Rabid Bat

Your chances of running into one might seem infinitesimal, but when you figure we're first responders to a lot of crap and Animal Control is among the last to actually show up, this might be important at some point:

• The discovery of a rabid bat in the Lincoln Square neighborhood prompted the city late Saturday to issue a warning against any contact with bats or other wild animals.

  On Wednesday, a house cat discovered the bat in an apartment near Lawrence and Western Avenues and woke up a man and woman in the dwelling, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

• "Rabies should never, under any circumstances, be taken lightly," CDPH Commissioner Terry Mason said in a release sent Saturday night. "This is a deadly viral disease that attacks the nervous system. There is no effective treatment for rabies once symptoms have started. At that point, it is fatal."

  [...] In a typical year, about two or three rabid bats are detected in the city, according to the CDPH

Someone wrote to us and said that a peregrine got into a house in North Lawndale last month. Coyote sightings are a daily occurrence up north and near downtown. Deer are like rats lately. Rabid bats might be more common than not.