billy the exterminator

[sorraia]

One third of millions and millions and millions of bats is still a lot of rabid bats.
As much as I dislike Billy and his antics, it is entirely probable that he is up to date on his rabies shots. My son is a wildlife biologist and worked with bats, he had to get vaccinated before he could start. He's working with endangered reticulated salamanders right now but is up to date on his rabies vaccine...and will probably stay that way. It's just a smart thing to do.

I would hope he is up to date on his rabies vaccine, simply because the nature of his job puts him at higher risk than the general population to be exposed to rabies. That wasn't really my point though. My point was here he is emphasizing how the bats are a "major" carrier of rabies and then, in front of who knows who watching the program, he handles a bat and gets bit. Great example for the people watching.

I had to do a quick search to see what a better estimate of how many bats carry rabies. I'm reading 10% or less. Yes, that's still a lot of bats, but it is also far from the majority of bats, as is the common misconception. Most people will never even see a live wild bat in their lifetime, so regardless how many bats may exist (and that depends on where you live too, some bat populations are disappearing at an alarming rate in some areas of their historic range), the risk of exposure is probably pretty low for most people. Compare that to more likely rabies carriers, such as raccoon, skunk, fox, and even domestic cats and dogs, which people are much more likely to be exposed to, yet seem to be much less concerned about. After all... raccoons are just big fuzzy puppy dogs! (please note the sarcasm in that last statement. It is an annoyance of mine, as a wildlife biologist, the misconceptions people have about animals. Much like the misconceptions people have about the snakes we keep as pets, i.e. they are dangerous, slimy, aggressive, out to get people, bite for no reason, will chase us down to bite us, etc)