Denver Raccoon Removal Animal Trapper Control Bat Snake Squirrel Pest Rat

Denver Squirrel removal and Denver squirrel control can be very challenging. It will require many different types of tools and ladders to complete this task. There are many different types of squirrel traps. Live traps in the attics aren't as effective as you might think. Trapping Denver squirrels at the roof entrance and near the entrance can be very successful Most Denver squirrel control service work is at the roof line if the house or dwelling. Properly trained & licensed exclusion professionals will make Denver squirrel Removal, problem free. Denver animal control officers will respond free of charge when a squirrel is in the living areas of your home. How to Trap Squirrels & trapping Squirrels Squirrel Removal Prevention Choose Denver squirrel Removal

Denver Raccoon Removal and Denver Racccoon Trapping is very dangerous work. Denver Raccoons have a higher possibility of carrying rabies and will be aggressive if cornered in the attic or inside your chimney. Most county and state animal control officials will respond to a Denver raccoon inside you living areas of your home at no charge. When the Denver raccoon takes up residence in your yard, crawlspace, attic, and chimney then you need a professional. Most Denver wildlife removal and control professionals have had a rabies pre-exposure vaccine administered to them. A contaminated attic may need Attic Decontamination is a most after removing these animals. Look here for Center for Diseses Control information on Denver raccoon fecal matter removal.

Denver Skunk Removal and Denver Skunk control will always be unpredictable. The spray from a Denver skunk can linger for weeks. unless you are very brave and or very confident, always have a Denver skunk professional remove these friendly but smelly creatures. Dogs that get sprayed by the Denver skunk usaully try to rub the smell from a Denver skunk onto your carpet or couch.

Denver Opossum trapping and Denver opossum removal is less dangerous than most other wildlife control. it is still not for everyone. The opossum is part of the kangaroo family. usually the opossum resides in the lower areas of your dwelling. The Denver opossum usually feeds on the dead caucus of other animals. Trapping Denver opossums removal and exclusion is the best way to handle these creatures. These Denver opossums are sometimes referred to Denver possums

Denver Snake Removal Denver snakes get the worst publicity of all. They have been feared since biblical times. Although Denver snakes are sometimes thought to stalk humans that's quite untrue. they're very east to predict. Food, heat and water is all they pursue. Take any of these things out of the equation and the snake leaves. Denver Wildlife control professionals know how to remove the factors and then remove the Denver snake problem.

Denver Beaver Removal Denver Beavers destroy man made habitat, but create much needed wetlands. The Denver beaver will never stop tearing down trees and blocking waterways. Most humans cannot tolerate beavers when they devour the ornamental trees that humans plant . Tree replacement can be very expensive. some trees such as weeping cherry and weeping willows can be hundreds of dollars to replace and Denver beavers can fall 5 trees per night. If you remove these trees the Denver beaver will fall anither tree the next night olny to eat the tops first.

Denver Bird Removal from Vents Denver birds crap all over everything. from Denver starlings nesting in vents to Denver pigeons roosting at areas where humans do business, Denver birds create many environmental hazards..After Having the Denver Birds it is very important to have the area decontaminated.Bird Netting And bird Spikes in Denver are good solutions to your Denver bird control methods

Denver Bat Removal Bats in Denver are considered carriers of rabies and should be excluded by professionals. There are to many variables in which to consider in Denver bat control and exclusion. Every situation in Denver is unique and should be evaluated and handled by a Denver licensed wildlife animal control professional. Experience is the key in removing these Denver Bats. From vents with a maternity colony to completely infested buildings, Denver bat exclusion work is the most detailed work that can be done by the Denver Bat certified professional. After removing Denver bats in the attic one should consider Denver attic decontamination for further protection against disease.

Denver mole Removal Moles are one of the common species of wildlife that we are called upon to control in North Houston. Moles can be found living in at lawns and landscapes throughout Denver. Denver mole removal and mole trapping should be initiated as soon as the mole has been discovered living in these areas as Moles will tunnel through lawns damaging root systems and making it unstable to walk on the lawn. Expensive landscaping can be ruined quickly by this very small animal. Denver is home to the Eastern Mole. Moles also take up residence under porches and patios Mole Removal Is Very Important to protect these areas. Moles create tunnels underground and "push up" the dirt that is excavated and deposit it on the surface of your lawn or landscape. Moles commonly eat earthworms and grubs.

Denver Armadillo Removal The nine-banded or long-nosed armadillo, Dasypus novemcinctus, is a common but non-native inhabitant of Denver and the only armadillo present in the U.S. Because of its often destructive feeding and burrowing habits in both rural and urban settings, most people who have an armadillo around their home consider it a serious pest. There are actually about 20 species of armadillos in the world and for information on the biology and behavior of these interesting critters I highly recommend the Web site http://www.msu.edu/~nixonjos/armadillo. My purpose here is to demonstrate a successful method of capturing and removing armadillos in an effective, safe and humane manner. While the nine-banded armadillo plays a useful ecological role by consuming large quantities of insects as food, when they take up residence in your yard, garden or worse, dig burrows under your buildings, they can be very destructive and an extreme nuisance. Denver Armadillos are usually active at night, but do forage in the early morning and evening hours. In my yard in north Denver, I have observed a family of young armadillos (see image below) foraging on an overcast day in mid afternoon. Full grown armadillos can dig large holes in the soil and in one night of foraging can ruin large patches of lawn or garden. I often encounter problems with armadillos the night after I spend time working in my garden. They dig around (and destroy) newly-planted flowers that I watered right after planting, particularly during dry weather. Suppressing the insect populations in the lawn will help reduce armadillo damage, but this effort has its own negative side effects if certain pesticides are used. Armadillo reproduction is interesting and unique in that four identical young (quadruplets) from a single egg are produced in each litter. Armadillos are sexually mature at about one year of age and live reportedly for 12 to15 years. Little wonder than that they occur in high densities commonly in Denver. Armadillos roam far and wide with a home range found to be over 12 acres in Denver studies. Thus, combating armadillos around the home will be a never-ending chore. As one is removed another will likely find the open territory.

Methods of removal: Many methods have been suggested for exclusion or removal of armadillos from a yard or other area where they are causing problems. Constructing a strong exclusion fence buried in the ground a foot or so is both expensive and impractical. I have tried most of the trap methods and have found that most are ineffective, require uncommonly available or messy equipment (baits such as earthworms) or some strange behavior like getting up in the middle of the night to chase them with a net. There is an easier way if you use your head and some relatively cheap and readily available equipment. You don't need messy baits, you just exploit the behavior of the armadillo and let them catch themselves at your convenience. Here is how.

Setting the trap: The trap along with the fence sections work together to form a funnel. Armadillos have fantastic noses but apparently poor eyesight. They can be easily "channeled" toward and into a trap. The best location for trap placement is near the entrance of a burrow (see image above). However, this method works sometimes in the open if you set up a large funnel type area with the yard fence as described next First place the fence sections around the burrow entrance such that the emerging armadillo will be forced to move in the direction of the channel formed by the fence. The fence sections should be placed about 12 inches apart in parallel to form the channel or corridor I recommend placing the fencing to form the channel around the burrow without the trap for a few nights before adding the Haverhart trap to allow the armadillo to get accustomed to it, although this may not always be necessary and could be counter productive. Armadillo burrows often have multiple entrances and there may be more than one burrow in your yard. Therefore, an armadillo may not return to the same burrow or use the same entry hole every day.

Make sure that the fence sections are placed such that they overlap on the outside and not inside the formed channel. That is the fence should form sides that are smoothly overlapping in the direction from the burrow toward the trap . After a day or two with the fence in place, set the trap door and place the trap at the far end of the fence channel to make the funnel. Make sure that the fence sections adjoining the trap overlap the trap on the outside edges next to the door. Also, if the soil is uneven, it may be helpful to place a board, stone or soil under the trap so that the trap entrance is level such that the armadillo will have no problem entering. Baits (earthworms, fresh fruit) are not necessary using this trap method, but can be placed inside the trap as an added attraction. Set the trap before dusk and check it again in the morning. A modification of the two-sided funnel method placed near a burrow, is to use a wall, fence or other existing lengthy obstacle in the yard that will serve the same purpose in directing the movement of the roaming armadillos. This has the added advantage of covering more space and increasing the likelihood that an armadillo present will reach the trap. Place the trap tightly against the obstacle. The addition of some fencing as described above on the opposite side of the trap from the obstacle will also help increase capture rate. Captured armadillos can be released back into the wild some miles from the capture site or disposed of humanely. Depending upon the location and conditions of the yard with respect to food availability and that of the surrounding habitat, after some time a new armadillo is likely to move into your territory. So this is a never ending battle. Good Luck!

4/6/10 Removed 1 way tunnel trap from a Denver townhouse for a successful removal of squirrels. Removed nesting birds from bathroom exhaust vent before they had babies. Inspected a job in Denver for squirrels, had been at the house 2 doors down 6 months ago, it seams that the middle house is still the squirrel entrance for both. Inspected behind siding for rat entrances, none to be found, to much dog poop in yard, Rat attractant. Removed squirrels from house at bottom of apex, entrance due to rotten wood.

4/7/10 Denver Customer thought he has mice, removed 5 baby squirrels Installed concrete and 1 way exit door to remove rats from under concrete shelf. Insulated 300 square Feet of insulation under addition, removed dead raccoon last week. Squirrel in wall , cut hole in wall and removed 1 baby, when leaving we heard a new baby in different part of wall, cut hole to remove it also, cut 2 additional holes and found nothing.

4/8/10 Installed exit door / entrance trap device to remove squirrel, later that day customer noticed the returning squirrel carrying twigs back to entrance, so we decided to remove device and give the job 2 weeks for the suspect momma to raise her babies. I asked one of my old employees to remove it for me because I was no where close to job, he did and ill return the favor to him soon. Went to customers house and waited for her to show up........and waited.......and waited......20 min......i left, she showed up and asked me to return.....of she called when i wasn't there... i told her monday we will try again..... hope she shows on time Inspected job in Denver, saw baby squirrels, boy the were big, big enough to leave on their own, with no desire to with momma the milk truck delivering every meal, so we excluded them and as of

4/10/10 the customer reports complete silence....YEA! inspected a Denver snake infestation, summited an estimate

4/9/10 Denver Customer reported squirrel or raccoon infestation, HAD MICE, gave him traps, I didn't charge him anything, however he gave me 100.00 for my time, love it when that happens. Customer has squirrels, again another older litter excluded them with exit door, as of

4/10/10 Denver customer reports 1 out ,momma out and one more to come out. Returned to estimated job to remove bats that customer has received special permission from state to remove bats from her vents, set up nets exclusion nets. Estimated elderly care facility for squirrel infestation, vent ridge has blown off and building in dis repair. Removed 1 way door for raccoon that customer reported was a success. Customer had home improvement contractor close gable end vent, trapped raccoon in, we set exit door to get raccoon out. Started Squirrel exclusion at facia board above gutter.

4-12-10 Removed 3 skunks from A Denver property. Installed a negative air machine to remove the smell from underneath the resisdence. Will be back to remove air machine and disinfect. the lady called me her god for solving her problems. That made the rest of the day go by good.

4-12-10 Arrived at a Denver clients house who previously had an animal under her concrete porch removed. I trenched around the entire porch and poured concrete to prevent further intrusion.

4-13-10 I had previously excluded a raccoon out of a Denver clients attic, and the raccoon punched out 8 soffitt vents, and I replaced them for free.

4-14-10 I applied eviction fluid in A Denver customers attic to get rid of her raccoons. All is quiet and job is complete.

4-14-10 Once again applied eviction fluid for baby raccoons and noticed over hanging branches on clients roof. I offered to trim the branches to keep them from getting back on the roof.

4-17-10 A Denver Client was complaining of hearing noises from his chimney flue. After further inspection of chimney I saw a mother and 4 babies at the bottom. I applied eviction fluid so the mother could safely remove the babies.

4/19/10 Started a bat removal job. Calked 30 feet of facia board to brick and installed bat tubes to allow bats to exit, their pervious bat removal estimate by a competitor was 4500.00 dollars and we charged them $750.00 and gave a 5 year warranty. Squirrel removal from soffet, three babies removed and mother moved them to a nearby tree, closed entrance hole with sheet metal. Set groundhog trap, customer was severely scared of animal in yard.

4/20/2010 Started contaminated attic insulation removal, Cut hole in roof so as not to remove insulation through interior of house, removed insulation, 600 sq ft. removed dead mouse from house, that was the slinkiest mouse I have ever smelt. Removed raccoon exit door from attic fan, closed entrance permanently. Set up rat exclusion and installed rat exit door, surrounded with concrete. Took of two 1 way doors because customer hasn't heard any more squirrel noise. Set raccoon trap at metro rail yard for raccoon, set trap in sewer. Excluded a bird and squirrels at an enclosed porch.

4/21/2010 Set up squirrel exclusion and closed side vents on house with wire mesh, removed 1 piece of soffet material, and installed 1 way door @ soffet for squirrel exit. Inspected strange attic noise to see if animals were present, attic was animal free, now the customer really has to figure out what noise was, neighbor to his house has raccoons in chimney. drove 1 hour to next job and when I got there the customer was difficult, he wanted to dictate to me how I was to do his job, so I respectfully declined his job and referred him to my competitors, One bad egg can spoil your basket. I went Home

4/22/10 Set up squirrel exclusion at rear facia, return next week to complete. removed 1 baby squirrel from job an bug / pest company tried to do, they just screened entrance hole and were to let the babies die inside, opened their work and found 1 baby close to death, tried to revive him, and he died hrs later, never let an exterminating company do wildlife work. Started raccoon with babies eviction at house, hope all goes well. Customer called with a mother raccoon with babies in a yard drain, opened grate, took out babies, placed them in a box 20 ft from yard drain, mother came out for them, closed yard drain and she took babies up the tree.

4/24/2010 My helper finished Attic insulation removal and replacement on 4/22/10 so I replaced the wood and shingles that we removed earlier in week, just in time for the rain that's coming today. Started another raccoon mother with babies job, this raccoon is hold up in a dormer.

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Description
The little brown bat is a small mammal with a body length of 3 - 31/2" and weighing approximately 1/8 to 1/2 an ounce. The wingspan of little brown bats range from 6 - 8". Bats are the only mammals that engage in truly active flight. As their name suggests they are glossy brown above with a light buff color below. These bats can live 20 to 30 years.

Range and Distribution
The Little Brown Bat is found from Labrador west to central Alaska and south to the Appalachians in Georgia and Arkansas. Located in most states except Florida, Texas, and southern California. The little brown bat is found abundantly throughout New Hampshire.

Habits and Habitats
Little brown bats are insectivorous, eating a variety of insects including some agricultural pests. They can eat 50% of their own body weight each evening. During gestation and lactation, even more insects are consumed. These nocturnal mammals use echolocation to navigate and locate prey.

Bats hear high frequency sounds emitted by their prey enabling them to distinguish contracting a muscle in the ear, these bats can block out their own sounds while still detecting prey. Little brown bats feed primarily over wetlands and other still water where insects are abundant. They use rivers, streams, and trails as travel corridors to navigate across the landscape. Bats will occasionally swoop down close to mammals to indulge on the insects that swarm around them, not to make a nest in the hair.

Little brown bats hibernate in clusters during the winter months, though little is known on hibernation locations in New Hampshire. Caves or mines are preferred but large tree cavities with favorable microclimates may be used. In order to minimize evaporative losses the humidity in these hibernation areas must be high, preferably over 90%. A constant temperature of 40 degrees F is desirable for hibernation.

Sexual maturity is reached in 6 to 9 months for females and a year for males. Breeding occurs from September to October but the female stores the sperm for fertilization in the spring. The young are born from mid-June to early July. Little brown bats generally have one offspring per year, occasionally two. The young become self-supporting within a month.

Little brown bats seek cavities for shelter, roosting and brooding. In summer females brood their young in dark, warm sites such as barns, attics, caves, hollow tree cavities and other protected areas. Little brown bat roost sites are highly variable and not well known. In temperate regions, they often use cavities along forest edges with high sun exposure.

By Chuck Fergus -
The raccoon is a medium-sized woods mammal with the scientific name Procyon lotor. Procyon means "before dog," implying the raccoon is less-advanced than the dog from an evolutionary standpoint; lotor refers to the species' habit of dunking food in water before consumption. The common names "raccoon" and "coon" are anglicized versions of the Indian word "arocoun." It's fitting that the common names evolved from a Native American word, as the raccoon is strictly a New World animal found in North and Central America.

As with many wildlife species, we view the raccoon with mixed emotions. Some raccoons are destructive, damaging crops and gardens and raiding nests of game and domestic birds. They're valuable in many ways, too: a prime pelt brings good money on the fur market, and hunting raccoons with hounds is an exciting, unique sport with a tradition as old as the hills. But in the end, the true value of any life form cannot be measured in man's terms. Raccoons have worth simply because they are one of the many fascinating and interlocking segments of nature.

Biology

Raccoons range in size from 28-38 inches, which includes a 10-inch tail, and weigh 10-30 pounds. Males are generally larger and heavier than females. Records exist of raccoons weighing up to 40 pounds, but individuals this heavy are extremely rare in the wild.

A raccoon's fur is long, soft and colored a grizzled black-brown. The bushy tail is marked with alternating rings of light and dark fur. Broad cheeks, a long slender muzzle, erect, rounded ears and a black strip or mask across the cheeks and eyes give the raccoon a masked bandit-like appearance. Albinism (a lack of pigment producing a white individual with pink eyes) and melanism (which produces a totally black animal) occur infrequently. The fur on a raccoon's feet is light gray in color, and the soles of the paws are hairless. Raccoons shed in April, producing coats with thinner, lighter guard hairs; in autumn, heavier fur fills in. Usually by late November the winter coat has replaced the shorter summer fur. At that time the pelt becomes prime.

Raccoons are found throughout Pennsylvania, often near water -- lakes, streams, rivers, but also on ridges and in suburban areas. They adapt well to people and human activities; some raccoons live cities, where they den in storm drains and attics and raid garbage cans and pet dishes.

Raccoons are omnivorous. This means they eat a tremendous variety of food, both vegetable and animal matter, including wild cherries and grapes, raspberries, blackberries, persimmons, apples, beechnuts, acorns, melons, corn, grass, leaves, earthworms, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, grubs, fish, frogs, crayfish, mice, carrion, eggs, etc.

Raccoons have excellent senses of hearing, sight and smell. They also possess an acute sense of touch in their forefeet, enabling them to catch fish and other small, quick prey. Long, sharp claws anchor slippery food items. No one knows exactly why raccoons occasionally "dunk" food taken in or near water before eating it. Many naturalists raccoons derive some information from handling the food underwater which may cause them to accept or reject it.

Raccoons are adept climbers, and, being nocturnal, they spend most of their daylight hours in trees. On warm, bright days they like to sun themselves while lying flat on horizontal limbs, in squirrel leaf nests or curled up in the crotches of trees. Then at night, they descend in search of food. They travel, feed and hunt almost exclusively on the ground. Most raccoons have central home dens as well as others scattered about their feeding ranges. Adult home ranges are about a mile in diameter, greater when food is scarce. An ideal den or nesting site is a hollow in a large tree trunk or limb, but raccoons also use old woodchuck burrows, caves, rock crevices and abandoned farm buildings.

Raccoons have short, stout builds. Like bears, they are plantigrade (flat-footed), walking on the sole of the foot with the heel touching the ground. They're relatively slow runners but fierce fighters -- especially females with young. Men and dogs are the adults' main enemies, although owls, foxes and bobcats may take young that stray from their mothers' protection. Raccoons are strong swimmers.

A raccoon makes a variety of sounds, including barks, hisses, a wailing tremolo, a churr-churr noise often given while the animal is feeding, and a piercing scream of alarm or fear.

By late autumn, raccoons have eaten enough to produce a heavy layer of fat that helps sustain them until spring, although they eat whatever food they can find in winter. They do not store food. Unlike woodchucks, raccoons are not true hibernators; they den up and sleep soundly when temperatures fall below about 25 degrees Fahrenheit, but emerge at different times throughout the winter during warm spells. They are considerably leaner by spring, having burned up much fat.

Breeding takes place in January or February. Following a two-month gestation period, young are born in March and April. Usual litter size is 3-5 young, with 4 the average. Cubs weigh about three ounces at birth, are covered with yellow-gray fur and have faintly banded tails. After about 19 days their eyes open, and when four weeks old they begin to accompany the female on short feeding forays. Weaning starts at about eight weeks; by the time they're three or four months old, cub raccoons are large and independent enough to be on their own.

The male usually stays with the female after mating and until babies are born, and may help rear the young. By the time the young mature, however, the father has usually gone off on his own.

Many family groups -- mother and offspring -- stay together through the young raccoons' first winter. Most yearling females breed at this time, but males of the same age probably do not breed for another year. If for some reason a female doesn't breed in winter, she may become receptive later in the spring and bear young in the summer. Small raccoons found in the fall are the result of this late breeding. By late fall, young raccoons follow their mother away from the den nightly in search of food.

In spring, juveniles disperse from the areas in which they were born. Young raccoons may move only a mile or two or may travel long distances. Records exist of young males apparently dispersing up to 150 miles, although movement of this magnitude is unusual.

Raccoons exhibit some social hierarchy; most dominant are older males and females with young. However, individuals do not defend fixed territories or ranges against other raccoons.

Captive raccoons have lived up to 18 years, but their life expectancy in the wild is probably about 10 years. Important mortality factors are lack of food in a hard, long-lasting winter, parasitism, hunting, trapping and disease. Many raccoons are also killed on highways.

Population

Although it experiences occasional setbacks, Pennsylvania's raccoon population is stable. Nationwide, it occurs in all of the "lower 48" states and into Central America, but is not found in the higher reaches of the Rocky Mountains or some of the western deserts.

Local populations may fluctuate because of severe weather, food scarcities, development of rural land, hunting and trapping pressures, outbreaks of rabies and distemper and habitat changes. Population concentrations vary with habitat; researchers have estimated one raccoon per 0.63 acres of excellent habitat and one raccoon per two acres of good habitat.

Raccoons become more susceptible to disease if they overpopulate an area, because they'll encounter one another more often. However, as long as fur prices provide an impetus for trappers to harvest raccoons, disease will only minimally impact populations.

Habitat

Raccoons are adaptable, and many types of terrain provide suitable areas for them to live. As a rule, they prefer forested areas offering plenty of den sites. They favor hardwood over coniferous forests, because hardwoods provide more food (nuts, fruits) and are more apt to develop cavities and hollow limbs suitable for shelter. Swamps and fertile bottomlands are good habitat; raccoons often thrive near water courses, where good hunting opportunities exist. A raccoon will wade up a small spring run in search of crayfish, aquatic insects, minnows and other food.

The Game Commission has never had to improve habitat specifically for the raccoon because the species manages well on its own. In managing forests on state game lands, however, the Commission tries to protect mature hardwoods, which are used as den trees by raccoons and other wildlife species.

A varied habitat -- trees of different ages and types, brush, herbaceous vegetation -- is ideal because it provides food during all seasons. In general, habitat improvement for turkeys, squirrels or deer also benefits raccoons. Grassy openings are excellent sources for insect food. Food-producers such as grapevines, blackberry, raspberry and green briar patches, black cherry trees, oaks and beeches should be encouraged and maintained. Beaver dams benefit raccoons -- and many other wildlife species -- by producing plentiful aquatic food.

While the Risk Is Low Be Aware of Rabies

Rabies is a relatively rare disease, but several well-publicized scaresincluding one at a Virginia summer campmake this a good time to review the basics.

First and foremost, rabies is very serious and essentially uniformly fatal for humans once the disease takes hold. However, it is very rare, with only one to two cases annually in the U.S. Because there is an effective post-exposure therapy that prevents the disease nearly 100 percent of the time, it behooves us to know when to seek care.

Rabies is caused by a virus, which is transmitted via saliva of infected animals, usually through a bite in the skin. Rarely, it can be transmitted through a mucous membrane such as the eyes, nose or mouth. After infection, the virus travels from peripheral nerves to the central nervous system, brain and spinal cord. Although initially symptoms are very non-specific (fever, headache and malaise) central infection leads to the classic neurological symptoms of rabies, including

Rabies virus is found only in mammals. More than 90 percent of cases in the U.S. are caused in association with exposure to wild animals; fortunately, animal vaccination programs have dramatically decreased the instance of rabies in domestic animals and livestock. Worldwide, however, 90 percent of cases are associated with bites from stray dogs, an important consideration when traveling internationally. Pre-travel immunization is recommended prior to travel in high-risk areas, particularly in the developing world.

Georgetowns Chief of the Emergency Department Dr. Brendan Furlong explains the basics of rabies precautions.

Determining whether an exposure warrants treatment is the critical first step. One must consider the animal source and the type of exposure. The type of exposure is also important. Rabies is most commonly transmitted by animal bites, but transmission through scratches, wounds and mucous membranes is also possible. Casual contact by itself, such as petting a rabid animal, does not constitute a significant exposure.

Further, the rabies virus needs water to live. When dry, the virus is generally harmless. Dry materials containing the virus (e.g., dried feces) are generally non-infectious. Exposure requires that the virus pass from the infected animals saliva, blood or other bodily fluid to your bodily fluid through an open scratch or a mucous membrane such as your eyes, mouth or nose. If you are concerned about an exposure, first clean the site of exposure thoroughly. Then contact your doctor or come to the emergency department for urgent evaluation.

If a doctor recommends treatment, you will likely receive an injection of Human Rabies Immune Globulin (HRIG) at the site of the exposure. This shot provides passive protection immediately. You will also receive Human Diploid Cell Vaccine (HDCV) immediately and on subsequent days 3, 7, 14 and 28. Usually in 7-10 days, your body will develop immunity that lasts for approximately 2 years. If you have been previously immunized against rabies, you will likely receive the HDCV booster immediately and again 3 days later.

Avoiding potential exposure is your best protection. Should you be exposed, rapid evaluation and intervention will prevent rabies from developing.

WASHINGTON - An increasing number of bats found in D.C. homes are testing positive for rabies, and the city health department is urging residents to "bat proof" their homes.

Dena Iverson of the D.C. Department of Health says the city's caught 74 bats recently and 13 of those caught tested positive for rabies.

Prince George's County reports finding nine bats that tested positive for rabies since Aug. 1, and says one person who came in contact with an infected bat was treated preemptively for rabies.

No humans have reported being bitten yet. D.C. health workers are recommending the public take steps to keep it that way.

Among the city's bat protection suggestions:

Close windows and doors;
Fix broken window screens;
Repair or screen-off points of entry such as loose shingles, vents and chimneys.

The health department says if someone is bitten by a bat or gets infectious material, such as saliva from a bat in the eyes, nose, mouth or a wound, he should wash the affected area thoroughly with soap and water and seek medical advice immediately.

The city warns citizens should not attempt to capture a bat on their own. If a bat is found in a house, animal control should be called immediately at 202-576-6664.

The rabies virus attacks the central nervous system causing convulsions, paralysis and finally death. The virus is present in the saliva of a rabid animal and is transmitted primarily by animal bites. The virus can affect all warm-blooded animals, but it is most often found in wildlife, such as raccoons, skunks, foxes and bats. Dogs and cats may contract rabies if they have not been vaccinated against it. All mammals, including humans, are susceptible to rabies.