Wilson Building tenants 'bat-tered'

Wilson Building tenants 'bat-tered'

Sept 1, 2001

by Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

Some unwanted little creatures in the historic Wilson Building are driving tenants absolutely "batty."

Built in the late 1880s, the brick building on Main Street is home not only to half a dozen professional offices but also a number of bats, tenants say.

On Tuesday of last week, a bat was spotted flying in the hallway; on Wednesday, one was caught in an office and released; Thursday, a second sickly bat was captured and turned over to the health department; and Saturday, a dead bat turned up in yet another office, said Bev Humiston, a secretary for Hutchison and Coleman, CPAs.

"It’s scary — gross — creepy," exclaimed Humiston, who noted that the bat problem is nothing new.

The bats are dwelling in the ventilation system in the ceiling, and at times pop out a foot or a wing from the air-conditioning vents above her desk, she said. "They’ve been squeaking and rattling all over in here."

The scurrying noises though, are a minor inconvenience compared to the fears that eventually tenants will encounter a bat with rabies.

In the morning hours of Aug. 23, attorney Jon Kelly came into his office to find a bat sprawled on his windowsill in broad daylight. Humiston said the nocturnal animal obviously had something wrong with it. Kelly trapped it in a box so the health department could further investigate.

"They all agreed it was sick or rabid," Humiston said.

However, the Wilson bat did not test positive for rabies, said Diana Fahrion, Montezuma County sanitarian. Fahrion said she had sent off another bat found on Lebanon Road for rabies testing on Thursday but was still waiting for test results.

The numbers of reported rabid bats in Colorado have been steadily climbing in recent years.

In 2000, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported that 67 bats tested positive for rabies — one of which was in Montezuma County. So far this year, there have been no known rabies cases in the county, although there have been three cats that tested positive for the plague.

In 1997 there was one known case of rabies in the county. There were four in 1996, including a fox; and in 1994 the county reported one rabid skunk. The last known human to be infected with rabies in Colorado was in 1931 in El Paso County.

Wilson Building owner Doug Wilson said he is aware of the bat problem and is doing all he can to rectify the situation.

"What we’ve had is the trim along the outside edge on top of the building — east and north faces — separating a little bit and has left some gaps," Wilson said. "Somehow the bats have gotten in there and we’re working on getting them eradicated and that fixed so they can’t get back in there."

Wilson said he has called in "Batman" — a bat specialist from the Carbodale area.

"He’s trying to get down here to see what they can do about it," Wilson said. "They plug the holes and set up a one-way door system so they can trap the bats and not let them back in."