Bat tests negative for rabies after flying in employee lunchroom
NEW CANAAN — It is unknown how a bat made its way into the lunchroom of a municipal maintenance building this week when it showed up while employees were eating lunch.
Several employees were enjoying their food when a bat flew into the lunchroom at 394 Main St., a town-owned building where trucks are stored, Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm said Wednesday.
Highway Department Superintendent Mose Saccary caught the bat, according to Director of Public Works Tiger Mann. Due to the food being exposed to the potentially rabid creature, the bat had to be submitted for rabies testing.
“I arranged for the euthanasia and testing,” Halm said after the creature had been secured.
The bat was submitted to the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory at the University of Connecticut, since the bat’s brain tissue is needed to test for rabies.
UConn deemed that the bat was negative for rabies.
Halm said she did not know what type of bat it was.
Rabies is a viral disease of the central nervous system.
“Once a person begins showing signs and symptoms of rabies, the disease nearly always causes death,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
Bats are not completely uncommon in the area.
In 2013, a New Canaan resident was bitten by a bat that ultimately tested negative for rabies.