A family in Georgia has been forced out of their home after the invasion of nearly 80 bats.
Isaiah and Monica Grant have refused to enter their home in Ardsley Park- about three hours from Atlanta- after the Georgia Department of Public Health said the home was an ‘immanent health risk’ on January 29.
‘This has been so traumatizing,’ Monica told WSAV about the rental home that she shares with her husband, toddler and infant child.
According to the couple, they witnessed their first bat in the home on January 18 and within a couple of days, they noticed more swarming inside.
‘Three bats come flying down the stairs as we’re sitting in out living room. They start coming through the vents. The kids were already asleep,’ Monica said.
‘We were like we’re done, we have to get out of here, something is wrong.’
Since the family, who originally lived in Chicago, fled their new home they have gone on to live with a neighbor.
The owner of the rental, Cathleen Barela of Property Management Company, told News 3 the company has spoken with the family and has been in contact with Savannah Code Compliance.
‘Code Compliance left a violation due to the pressure they were getting from the tenants, Barela said.
She added the notice said the bats ‘needed to be removed from the property’ and they were aware that steps were being made to get that taken care of.
‘We acted as any property manager would, and had it addressed based on when they reported it,’ Barela added.
Though the property owner said everything is under control, the Grant family said they are still dealing with inconveniences. All four of them were instructed to immediately get rabies shots, which they have to pay for themselves.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention shared that ‘bats are the leading cause of rabies d_eaths in people in the United States.’
‘There is no treatment for rabies. Either you get the vaccine or you d_ie,’ the worries mother said.
Isaiah, the father, said there is ‘no manageable way of understanding if you’ve been bitten.’
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for a new home and growing medical bills.
‘We have renters insurance but they’ve stated to use that “a bat infestation is not a covered loss” and that despite the fact that the home has been declared uninhabitable that it would have to be for a reason that is a covered loss,’ Isaiah said on the page.
‘Dracula is real, ya’ll,’ he added.
In an update from February 2, the father and husband said he and his family have been ‘overwhelmed by the support’ they’ve received, and were contacted by someone with a furnished townhouse to use.
‘We will be moving into a townhouse for the next month as we work to figure out what to do next,’ Isaiah said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported there are 16 different species of bats in the state of Georgia.
According to the CDC, though most bats don’t have rabies, it is not possible to tell if they do or not just by looking at it, the viral disease has to be tested and confirmed in a lab.
