In retrospect, there was something odd about the bat.
It wasn't flying too well, and when Andrew Feffer went to capture it, it flopped into a purse.
Taking care not to touch the bat, Feffer transferred the animal into a plastic bag and placed it in his freezer, where it fell asleep and died.
Feffer has lived in Albany for almost a decade, and each year a couple of bats have found their way into his Chestnut Street home. But this was the first time any of Feffer's bats have tested positive for rabies.
“Because it was rabid, it wasn't flying around too well,” recalled Feffer, an associate professor of history at Union College. “When I thought about it, it was easier to catch.”
The bat Feffer encountered over Memorial Day weekend was the first rabid bat discovered in Albany County this year. But it probably won't be the last. Last year, 10 of the 299 bats tested for rabies in Albany County had the disease.
Only about 4 percent of the bats submitted to the state Department of Health's Wadsworth Center Rabies Laboratory for testing turn out to be rabid, and in the wild, that figure drops to about 1 percent.
Still, officials said there are some precautions people should take when handling bats, and certain things they should do if they are exposed.
Unless a bat's every indoor movement has been tracked, it should be taken to the state's rabies laboratory for testing. According to Marcia Lenehan, associate public health sanitarian for the Albany County Department of Health, it's always possible the bat touched someone while they were sleeping, and the person didn't realize it.
“The bat needs to be captured and brought to a lab,” Lenehan said. Although most people simply shoo bats outside, they should do that only if they're confident nobody in the house has had any contact with the bat, she said.
The Capital Region has a thriving bat population. In downtown Albany, where Feffer lives, the winged mammals often fly into the city's old rowhouses, particularly during the spring and summer, when people open their windows. But there are plenty of other ways for them to get inside, such as through a hole in the attic or roof.
Lenehan said the Albany County Department of Health receives more calls about bats from people who live in downtown Albany than the more rural areas of the county. That doesn't mean there aren't bats in the country – it just means they have more places to roost outside there, and are less likely to venture into houses and apartments.
So far this year, the state has tested 11 bats from Albany County. The only other rabid bat in the Capital Region was found in early May in the town of Carlisle in Schoharie County, although Schenectady, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Fulton and Montgomery counties have all sent a handful of bats in for testing, according to a report from the New York State Department of Health Rabies Laboratory.
Bats are more active in the spring and summer, especially in August, when they are preparing for winter – their dormant phase – by consuming lots of insects, Lenehan said.
Above all, people should avoid touching bats, Lenehan said. If the bat is flying around out of reach, she said, close it in the room and let it tire itself out (which will take a while); capture it with a long-handled net; or call for assistance.
If a bat is within reach, flip it into a lidded container, such as a coffee can, using a piece of cardboard. “As long as it's in an airtight container, it will die on its own,” she said. The bat can then be brought to the state's Griffin Laboratory, which is open 24 hours a day, on State Farm Road in Guilderland.
Feffer's bat was discovered late at night, flying around a room where his sister-in-law and her baby lay sleeping.
He couldn't tell where else the bat had been, or whether it had touched anyone, so Feffer, his wife, his sister-in-law and the baby all got rabies shots as a precautionary measure. All are now fine.
For the most part, though, Feffer likes bats, and said he worries that people will panic when they hear about the rabid bat. He plans to install a bathouse on his roof so the animals will have a place to roost.
“They're very, very good creatures,” he said. “They eat twice their weight in mosquitoes every night.”
Neighborhood resident Doug Ebersman, who e-mailed notice of the rabid bat to other Center Square residents, said he usually catches one bat each year, but that so far none of them have tested positive for rabies.
“There are bats everywhere,” Ebersman said. “Anywhere you have mosquitoes, you have bats. Occasionally one will turn up rabid.”