By Holly Fesperman LeeSalisbury Post
A bat captured in a Scales Street home last week has tested positive for rabies, making it the eighth confirmed case this year, animal control officials said.
“I was sitting in the front room watching TV late at night and it flew out of my fireplace,” homeowner Jim Fox said. “I caught it and set it on the front porch.”
Fox was able to catch the bat when it landed on a curtain.
“I wrapped a T-shirt around it and carried it outside and put a box over it,” he said.
He called Salisbury City Animal Control to come get the bat.
Fox said the bat is the sixth or seventh one he’s seen come out of the fireplace in the last month.
“The others we had to just open doors and shoo them on out,” he said.
Fox said he called animal control officers this time because he was able to catch the bat.
Animal control sent the bat for testing and results came back positive for rabies.
Fox said no one would need to take rabies shots. He said officials with the Rowan County Health Department told the family they would only need to take shots if someone had been bitten.
“We boarded up the the bottom of the fireplace and sealed it up, so hopefully nothing else will come in through there,” Fox said.
Contact Holly Lee at 704-797-7683 or hlee@salisburypost.com.