GainesvilleMoms.com

A mom brought a dead bat to her children's school and, during five classroom presentations, let 90 elementary children touch it! The bat was later confirmed to be diseased, and now all the children have to receive six shots of anti-rabies vaccine. The mom did offer sanitary wipes.

You can read the full article here.

Isn't that so sad! I'm sure the mom feels terrible, but I thought it was pretty well known that bats can have rabies. Maybe I just get a lot of information about it since I live so close to the bat house.

What school allows people to just wander the halls and attend classes?? They've just now implemented a visitor pass system? I thought this was pretty common practice.

I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of this mother, and honestly, I'm not sure what I would have done. I certainly would not intentionally expose children to disease, but at the same time it might not have occurred to me that a dead bat would be of any harm. I guess I was under the impression that you had to be bit to really be in any danger of contracting rabies.

I have to say - even without awareness of rabies risk, do you let a child touch any dead animal? If it wasn't hit by a car, one would naturally assume some sort of disease. Or, the general "germ-i-ness" of a corpse? Unless the animal has been professionally prepared for such handling, I wouldn't get near it.

quote:

Originally posted by Casmly:
What school allows people to just wander the halls and attend classes?? They've just now implemented a visitor pass system? I thought this was pretty common practice.

Wow you're right! I didn't even think about that. She should have definitely had to check in at the office. And if she did, wouldn't the people in the office ask why she was coming in or ask to see what she was carrying around. Good point!

Wow, well for the woman's part this was MONUMENTAL stupidity. I think thatsimple common sense would tell anyone this is a bad idea. Even if she didn't realize it was dangerous she should have known it was gross, unnecessary, and just plain dumb.

And for the school part -- haven't you guys ever heard of sexual predators? Just anyone is allowed to come in and walk around? Because if you didn't notice a woman with a dead animal, what ARE you going to notice?!?

As always, Nate, you hit it! I just love your way with words!

Eiy, yi, yi ... I don't even know where to start wtih this one. I bet there are a ton of p***ed parents -- I know I'd be one of them!

Nate - in the face of a sad and shocking story, you did make me laugh. I have to agree, what's next that doesn't get the attention of at least one person, but the way you stated it does say it all. Any wonder why I am more and more for home schooling??

i HEAR those rabies shots are VERY painful and are in the abdomen and in the muscles.

ouch! Poor little kids

FYI -- they have made great strides in rabies shots. It USED to be a series of shots right into the stomach/abdomen. But now there are fewer shots, and they are administered like any other shot. Way to go, medical science!