Cathy Allred - North County Staff | Posted: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 11:00 pm
There are no more bats in the belfry -- or the auditorium, the hallway or the classrooms -- at Lehi High School anymore.
The school was hit with a migratory bat infestation at this time last year, and the bats returned for school this year.
"We knew there was a possibility that they would come back, and we were right, they came back," said Alpine School District representative Rhonda Bromley. "This time we were ready for it. We had administrators put in some late night hours to find out how [bats] were getting out and some early morning hours to find out how they got in."
The district began working hand in hand with the Utah County Health Department and then decided to contract with a company that specialized in getting rid of bat infestations. The contractors began working on the problem Monday. The health department sent a letter to the school that was read to students, letting them know it was unsafe to handle bats.
The bats that chose Lehi High as a temporary home were Mexican free tail bats, which are a protected species.
"We're right in their migratory path and they are looking for a hotel as they move south and we don't want to have a light out for them," said LHS Principal Chuck Bearce.
Bromley said lights were one of the methods used to get rid of the bats, because officials hoped bright lights would discourage the nocturnal creatures from entering the school. The last option -- killing the bats -- was used after everything else was tried, including blocking the small holes they were using to enter the buildings.
"They are good animals, they just aren't good pets," said health department epidemiology coordinator Lisa Guerra. "They are very beneficial; they eat mosquitoes, they eat bugs, and so we want to keep them. We don't want to go on bat hunts."
A bat infected with rabies can spread the disease through its fur or saliva. Its teeth are so tiny that its bite is similar to a mosquito bite.
"You may not even know that it is nibbling on you," Guerra said.
She said several schools have had bats, but none so public as Lehi High School's infestation a year ago.
"I've had a few principals come to me quietly and say, 'You know, we have had bats at our school, too,' " Guerra said.
Traci Turner filed a lawsuit in July arguing that the school district did not properly inform students or protect them from the bat infestation at the high school in September 2007. She was seeking reimbursement for the $2,000 cost of the rabies shots.
Her son caught a live bat at the school and passed it among some friends while he kept it as a pet for a couple of hours. After receiving a letter from the school three days later warning that contact with bats carries a risk of rabies, Turner took her son to get vaccinations for the disease.
"All parents need to inform their child no matter what age that bats are a wild animal and as wild animals we need to avoid them," Guerra said.
According to Bromley, the lawsuit has been dropped. However, on Wednesday night the online court record didn't reflect a dismissal, and Matthew Howell, the attorney listed in the court records as representing Turner, did not return a message.
More on bats, rabies and health safety can be found at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/kidsrabies/.