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December 25
1852 - Acton gold mine owner & California Gov. Henry Tifft Gage born in New York [story]
Henry Gage
SCV Still Tops in L.A. County
| Friday, Jul 25, 2014

What rhymes with “cat” and hisses like a cat when you approach it, but isn’t a cat?

You’ve got it. It’s a rabid bat.

Granted, most rabid bats don’t hiss at you; most stumble around like they’re drunk. But this one hissed.

hissingbat Los Angeles County’s fourteenth rabid bat of the season turned up this month in front of somebody’s garage in Newhall. According to county health officials, it hissed when it was approached.

It was the sixth rabid bat to be identified so far this year in the Santa Clarita Valley, and with six of the county’s 14 rabid bats (43 percent), the SCV continues to be the county leader in rabies – as it has been the last four years, when incidents of rabies infection started a dramatic climb.

Health officials can’t explain the uptick, but recent years have seen more than 40 infected bats annually across the county. There always used to be only 8 to 10 a year, at least since they started tracking such things in the early 1960s.

rabies072514Bats are the most common carriers of rabies, but most bats are disease-free. Fewer than 1 percent are infected.

Remember, if you see a bat flying around during the daytime, or bothering the family pet, or staggering around on the ground like a drunkard, or dead – don’t touch it.

In fact, what the heck. If a bat appears to be perfectly healthy, don’t touch it.

Instead call Animal Control at257-3191 and let them touch it. Let your tax dollars work for you.
Comment On This Story
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50 Comments

  1. Bernadette Marks says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Nasty!!!

    Reply
  2. Annette Mitchell says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Poor thing! Interesting ears!

    Reply
  3. Ricardo Leonardo Longoria says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    CHUPACABRA

    Reply
  4. Leo Elias says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    F n funny bat cat .

    Reply
  5. Ali Soleimani says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Ashley Cornell, check this out.

    Reply
  6. Kimberly A. Mahaffey Blaquera says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Poor little thing.

    Reply
  7. Lisa Dixon says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Hmmmm….Batty Patty

    Reply
  8. Kimberly Walmsley says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Did someone photoshop the bat head on top of a cat body??? I am not buying this.

    Reply
  9. Kimberly Walmsley says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Did someone photoshop the bat head on top of a cat body??? I am not buying this.

    Reply
  10. Danny DjSonar Carbajal says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    LOL PhotoShop

    Reply
  11. Danny DjSonar Carbajal says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    LOL PhotoShop

    Reply
  12. Tania Janicek says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    That’s what my cat, Chauncey, looks like at feeding time

    Reply
  13. Tania Janicek says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    That’s what my cat, Chauncey, looks like at feeding time

    Reply
  14. Kathy Nusslein Cebulak says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Lol were watching Cujo!

    Reply
  15. Kathy Nusslein Cebulak says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Lol were watching Cujo!

    Reply
  16. Jeanie Drennan Lucero Blaquera says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Looks like a kitten with a bat head on it?

    Reply
  17. Jeanie Drennan Lucero Blaquera says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Looks like a kitten with a bat head on it?

    Reply
  18. Starla Caloroso Sandoval says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Crazy Potato!

    Reply
  19. Starla Caloroso Sandoval says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Crazy Potato!

    Reply
  20. Jeanette McCullough says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Photoshopped

    Reply
  21. Maria T. Carmona says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Lol!!

    Reply
  22. Batty Patty says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    I don’t think so.lol.

    Reply
  23. Javier Garay says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    Lorena Garay Gianella Garay

    Reply
  24. Nadine Romero says:
    Friday, Jul 25, 2014 at

    The picture is a spoof but the story is real.

    Reply
  25. Kimberly Sincomb Villasenor says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    Love the cat body on a couch with a scary as hell bat head.

    Reply
  26. Budder Arcturus says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    Dimitri Maxwell

    Reply
  27. Budder Arcturus says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    This page can be surprisingly funny at times.

    Reply
  28. Ckay Walker says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    A photoshopped image is not something “news” informers should be using. Just stupid. You know now that gullible people out there will be seriously confused.

    Reply
  29. Ckay Walker says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    A photoshopped image is not something “news” informers should be using. Just stupid. You know now that gullible people out there will be seriously confused.

    Reply
  30. Bob Buechner says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    Oh no….someone is hissed-off. Ha….

    Reply
  31. Tamara Gardner Frenya says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    Angela McColl Bodenhafer see its real!!!!! Haha those bats were crazy the other night, dive bombing us!!! They were rabid!!!!!!!! Our bats were not hissing though!!!

    Reply
  32. Lisa Pierce says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    I have noticed a lot more bats than usual in general in the SCV, SFV & AGOURA HILLS. Look up people stay clear.

    Reply
  33. Hillary Janikula says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    This is irresponsible journalism. For one thing, that’s not a bat indigenous to this area. For another it’s a bat head (badly) photoshopped onto a cat body. If I want the National Enquirer I’ll go to the grocery store.

    Reply
  34. Hillary Janikula says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    This is irresponsible journalism. For one thing, that’s not a bat indigenous to this area. For another it’s a bat head (badly) photoshopped onto a cat body. If I want the National Enquirer I’ll go to the grocery store.

    Reply
  35. Terry LaRue says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    Stupid sensationalism.

    Reply
  36. Helle Abbott Bailey says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at
    Reply
  37. Eddie Doty says:
    Saturday, Jul 26, 2014 at

    Gnarly little dude !

    Reply
  38. Dodong Zale says:
    Sunday, Jul 27, 2014 at

    creppy

    Reply

Leave a Comment
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