A few weeks ago, CBC News had reported about a woman whose apartment in Saskatoon was overrun by bats. Christina Abbot, who has since moved out of the apartment, recalled that her bat problem started out with just one bat when she left her apartment for a week. When she came back, she found another one, and by the time she reported her problem to the authorities, there had been another twelve.

This news comes just barely a year after the city of Hamilton in Ontario received reports of an increase in the number of bats finding their way into the city, and into homes. It is what residents and officials began to refer to as the bat season. Since then, companies specializing in humane wildlife control in Hamilton have been on the watch to keep these intrusive bats under control.

Bats are not normally regarded as undesired wildlife when they’re outside. Residents acknowledge the value of these animals to the ecosystem with their role in pollination and insect control. A single bat can remove up to 3,000 insects from an area in a single night. This includes the bloodsucking, disease-carrying mosquitoes that are the biggest animal menace the world over. Bat problems arise when the these animals fly and roost inside houses, opening up concerns about transmission of other human diseases, including rabies.

Guano, or bat droppings, also emit a strong, rancid odor that in large quantity may sicken some people. Bats also have a tendency to return to the same home, even after having been previously driven out. For some people considering these nocturnal fliers from an emotional or folkloric standpoint, bats are simply terrifying creatures.

Because bats make a valuable ecological contribution, it is important that any approach to bat exclusion carried out by qualified personnel does not focus on destroying the animals. While most bat populations are not anywhere near critical, getting them out of houses alive when possible should be a concern, especially when they do not pose any immediate danger to human life.

If there’s a bat inside your room and you must capture it yourself, make sure you put on leather gloves before doing anything else. Wait for the bat to land, and as you approach it slowly, place a container over the bat and then carefully slide some cardboard underneath to close off the container, thereby capturing the animal. If there is no need to keep the bat for testing, release it outside the house at night without harming it.

Many urban wildlife control companies, such as Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, specialize in effective wildlife removal. They offer services that promise to remove bats and other critters such as birds and feral mammals out of your homes. The more important aspect of their job is what they do to bar these unwanted visitors from your home to keep it wildlife-free.