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Bat found inside Houston apartment
A Houston woman says she woke up to a bat flying around her apartment. The woman said she called for help for days and ended up having to take matters into her own hands. FOX 26's Natalie Hee has more on what the woman and apartment management are saying.
HOUSTON - A woman says she woke up to a live bat flying around her southwest Houston apartment.
Shortly after 5:30 a.m. Sunday, DaShonda Boniaby woke up after hearing an odd sound in her room. When the flying creature hung upside down from the ceiling, she realized it was a bat and started screaming.
"I don’t know how it got in. I haven’t found an entry point," Boniaby said.
Boniaby said the bat then flew into her daughter’s room where her 3-year-old granddaughter had been sleeping as well. After almost seven hours of calling for help, they decided to leave and stay at a hotel.
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"Before we left, the maintenance guy came and pretty much told me to hit it with a Swiffer," Boniaby said.
On Monday, another day went by with no help. The following morning, Boniaby took matters into her own hands with the help of her best friend.
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"We just started shaking the doors a little bit and it started flying around. As soon as it started flying, he was able to swing at it. He hit it really hard and it kind of bounced off the wall and into my daughter's laundry basket where we kind of folded the clothes that it touched and carried it out that way into the dumpster," Boniaby said.
Boniaby says she's now hoping to move units at the Stone Forest Apartments on Fondren, as she worries there may be more bats lurking in the walls. She claims she's heard more bats flying around and says she spotted several bats flying out of her apartment from the outside.
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"I stood here on the outside and I watched about three or four fly out from just up here," Boniaby said.
David Long is the owner of Houston Bat Removal. He says contrary to popular belief, it's relatively uncommon for bats to have rabies or be dangerous as they feed on insects and won't attack humans unless provoked.
Long adds that bat colonies can only become dangerous if left to grow for several years within a building's structure.
"When you have the buildup of guano in the wall, you can get air transfer from the wall into the living space, and that can make people sick with histoplasmosis, which is an upper respiratory infection caused by a fungus," Long said.
According to the CDC, symptoms of a histoplasmosis infection include fever, cough, fatigue, chills, headache, chest pain, and body aches. According to Long, the infection can be treated with an anti-fungal medication.
Loretta Wiley, a supervisor with the Stone Forest Apartments, told FOX 26 that the apartments do not have a bat issue. According to Wiley, maintenance responded immediately once made aware of the issue on Monday. Wiley says crews will be installing a screen to prevent any more bats from flying inside the unit. She adds that the apartments will work with Boniaby to remedy the issue.