University police were called to the Dan Rather Communications Building yesterday morning when a bat was reported on campus for the second time in less than a week.
Officer Wyatt Raley of UPD responded to the call at approximately 10:45 a.m. and arrived on the scene to find the bat hanging from the ceiling on the third floor of the building.
“When we got there, we couldn’t locate it at first because the description of the location wasn’t very good,” Raley said. “We found it alive and stuck to the ceiling on the third floor; it wasn’t moving around.”
After closing off the hallway, Raley and another officer contacted Huntsville Animal Control who sent a worker to contain the situation. As several onlookers stood by, the worker donned a pair of leather gloves and climbed onto a chair to catch the bat. After it was captured, the bat was placed in a plastic bag and removed from the premises.
According to Raley, the bat will not be tested for rabies or other diseases because there was no human contact involved.