Thankfully, I did not have to go so far as to commit the murder myself. Another coworker took it upon herself to call the police department and inquire as to the steps one would take in such a situation. Soon thereafter I was on the phone with animal control to set up a meeting for a hand-off of the culprit. Animal Control will "take care" of euthanizing it and get it to the Board of Health for testing. The incubation period for rabies is 10 days. That said, if the results aren't back by day 5 we all need to go in for shots. The concern is that even if you don't think you've been bitten, you can't always tell because the bite can feel less significant than a mosquito bite, and on the off chance that it does have rabies, it is 100% fatal once the person starts to have symptoms. Hopefully the results will be in by Friday and we won't have to go any further than that. Just glad we were able to find it - even if it landed on the Wife's neck - because otherwise all three of us and both cats would be getting A LOT of shots today - the amount of vaccine is by weight. I know two people who are "of size" and they each had to get NINE shots all at once, and a half-pint little one who got 3 shots - and that's just the 1st round - there's follow-up shots, too. My best guess is that I'd have to get 7 or 8, the Wife would have to get 6 or 7, and the Boy would have to get 1 or 2. Really hoping we can avoid this with a negative test outcome. On the bright side, if we do have to get the shots, then we are covered from any further bat/rabies worries for 7 years. The Animal Control guy did say that our area has not had any instances of bat rabies this year, so he is hopeful, but he reiterated that 5-day thing, and also said to call our insurance first to ensure it will be covered/get pre-authorization because insurance companies are not wanting to pay for the shots - you know, the shots that can prevent an illness that is 100% FATAL once any symptoms show up! Uff.
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