Rabid bat found outside UA building
A rabies-infected bat near death was found in a cardboard box front of a UA building Tuesday afternoon.
An unidentified person called University of Arizona police at 1:09 p.m. to report the sick animal. The officer arrived at the Administration building, 1401 E. University Blvd, police reports stated.
The officer waited for Pima County Animal Control field investigator Terry Ford to pick up the bat. The county official said he sent the animal to a state lab for testing.
"The bat was put to sleep," Ford said, adding that most bats found in the daytime are rabid.
Gilbert Gonzales, a communicable disease investigator for Pima County, said rabies is spread through saliva.
"If the bat bites you, you have a high chance of getting it (rabies)," Gonzales said. "If you just touched it, you wouldn't have a big chance of getting it."
He added a person could more readily contract the disease by handling the bat with a cut or wounded hand.
Gonzales said because rabies has an incubation period of three to eight weeks, anyone who touched the bat should see doctor by Friday to start the series of five inoculations to kill the disease.
He asked that anyone who came in contact with the bat should call him at 740-8315.
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