TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Parents of students living at off-campus student apartment, Stadium Centre “The Edge” say bats have made their home inside a stairwell, causing concerns about health and safety.
- Parent Kellie Wolfe says bats have been present in a stairwell at the complex since at least September when management first acknowledged the issue in an email sent to residents Sept. 9.
- Wolfe wants a clear removal timeline and more communication from the complex to decide whether to move her daughter out immediately.
- Watch the video to see how the complex is responding and hear from experts about potential risks.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
From the outside, things seem perfectly normal at off-campus student housing apartment, Stadium Centre “The Edge.”
But what’s inside one stairwell is putting students and their parents on edge: bats.
“We were made aware that there were bats infesting the stairwell near elevator one,” Wolfe said.
ABC 27’s Brieanna Smith talked to Kellie Wolfe, the parent of a Florida State University student.
She says the bats have been there since at least September.
“She's had a friend use the elevator. The bat, you know, was in the elevator with her friend,” she said. “The students, you know, are exposed to a risk – a health risk.”
Education Coordinator and Aviary Specialist Juliana Gill at the St. Francis Wildlife Association in Havana told Smith about those risks.
“Well, I know a lot of people are scared of rabies. Less than 1% of bats typically have rabies,” Gill said. “As far as that video and the number of bats that were in the building, any potential disease threat is really minimal.”
She identified the bats as Mexican free-tailed bats.
The species of bats typically roost together in colonies as large as 300 to 1,000.
“The warmth and coverage is usually what attracts them … anything that has, like, an entry point that's nice and high up,” Gill said.
But the removal of the bats can be tricky.
Effective techniques require sealing all entry points to the building and allowing bats to exit through a controlled exit.
But between April and August, it’s illegal because of bat’s gestation periods.
Wolfe sent me a series of emails from the complex starting Sept. 9.
The most recent one sent Oct. 3 informed residents that the complex was working with removal specialists and urging residents not to use the stairwell.
Smith reached out to the American Campus Communities, the owner and manager of the building, for an update.
A spokesperson says federal and state laws that protect bats has “constrained its ability to act swiftly,” and that a hired vendor told them that "remediation efforts appear successful” and that they are “monitoring the stairwell to confirm.”
Read the full statement below:
"We are aware of the situation and have been actively working to remedy the problem. Unfortunately, the bats are a protected species under federal and state law, and therefore our ability to act swiftly to resolve the situation has been constrained.
We have been consulting with the Florida Wildlife Commission as well as local authorities, including the health and fire departments. In addition, we separately engaged an experienced animal control vendor to remediate the problem.
The vendor advised us a short while ago that their remediation efforts appear to have been successful. They and we will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days to confirm that the issue has been fully resolved."
Wolfe wants the complex to do more like monitoring doorways to the stairwell and communicating timelines for removal.
“She [Wolfe’s daughter] will not be renewing her lease… we're making decisions right now, but without more information from the complex, you know, we're left on our own to really kind of understand where this ends,” she said.
Gill recommends students get post-exposure treatment at the health department if bitten or scratched by bats.
She says common ways to prevent bats from entering homes or buildings is to seal small holes or crevices and even install bat cages.
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