Jess Battreall
Contributing Writer
Yesterday wasn’t a typical Wednesday morning for the members of Townhouse four, when all eight young women were awakened by an unwanted visitor. Senior Emma Klipera was unpleasantly surprised when she was smacked in the face by a bat at 4 a.m. Quickly, she jumped out of bed and slammed her door, trapping the bat inside flying around her room.
“I thought Emma was having a bad dream by the way she was screaming, so I went to wake her up when I saw her running out of her room,” senior Kathleen Fagan said.
Klipera and her roommates then locked themselves inside of another room until Public Safety showed up. Shortly after Public Safety arrived, the bat was caught with a broom and a garbage bag.
“I was so traumatized from the bat that when Public Safety finally caught the bat I was able to breathe again,” Klipera said.
Although bats may seem harmless, they still come with many risks. Bat bites are not always dramatic or easily detected.
If the bat was carrying rabies, the students would all have to receive the rabies vaccine. Unfortunately, the bat was not sent out to be checked for rabies, which left the students unaware of what to do.
The rabies vaccine isn’t your typical shot that you receive at the doctors. A series of vaccines are given. The first, on the day of the exposure, and again on days three, seven, and 14 post-bite. It is given in a muscle, usually in the stomach, or now more recently in the upper arm.
The Townhouse four women all plan to receive the vaccines just in case the bat was infected. They also plan on keeping all unwanted visitors and animals out for the rest of their time here at Springfield College. These students truly do live in the Animal House.