A bat that swooped down and became tangled in a woman's hair at Olympic National Park has tested positive for rabies, and park officials are now trying to find the woman and any other visitors who may have contracted the disease, which is almost always fatal.
The entanglement happened around 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 9, near Staircase Rapids Trail Bridge, a 210-foot pedestrian suspension bridge crossing the North Fork Skokomish River in the southeastern corner of the park, according to the Park Service. Officials said the unidentified woman is at risk for rabies and should seek medical care immediately and contact the Mason County Health Department.
She may not have been the only visitor who encountered the animal.
"The bat also swooped at other visitors in the area, and it is unknown whether other people had contact with the bat," the Park Service said in a news release on Wednesday afternoon.
Anyone who may have come into contact with a bat in the area - even if they don't remember being bitten - should contact a health care provider and local health department, officials said. Bat bites and scratches can be tiny and may not be visible or painful.
Park officials did not respond to questions from SFGATE about how the bat was recovered and tested, how broadly visitors should interpret the potential exposure window or when a rabid bat was last confirmed in the park.
Rabies is rare in humans but is deadly once symptoms develop. The virus is generally transmitted through the bite or scratch of an infected animal or when infected saliva enters an open wound or the eyes, nose or mouth.
Bats are the only mammals known to carry rabies in Washington, according to the state Department of Health. Less than 1% of bats in the wild are believed to be infected, although between 3% and 10% of bats submitted for testing are positive. That higher figure is skewed because bats sent for testing are more likely to be sick or to have already come into contact with a person or another animal.
Washington has recorded just two human rabies cases in the past 75 years, both involving the bat variant of the virus. A 4-year-old child died in 1995 after a bat was found in her bedroom, and a 64-year-old man died in 1997, though officials never determined how he was exposed.
A more recent case elsewhere on the West Coast illustrated the danger of an unnoticed or seemingly minor bat encounter. In 2024, a California middle school teacher died of rabies about a month after she was bitten by a bat she encountered in her classroom.
Potential bat exposures have also caused problems at other national parks. Last summer, health officials tracked down visitors associated with more than 230 reservations at Grand Teton National Park's Jackson Lake Lodge after a bat colony was discovered above guest rooms and several guests reported seeing bats inside. The bats captured there tested negative for rabies, and fewer than 10 visitors were ultimately advised to receive post-exposure vaccines because officials could not completely rule out exposure.
For people who may have been exposed, rabies is preventable with prompt treatment. For someone who has not previously been vaccinated, treatment typically includes rabies immunoglobulin and four vaccine doses over two weeks. Washington health officials say treatment should begin as soon as possible, but a delay does not necessarily mean it is too late to seek care.
Despite the warning, officials stressed that the vast majority of Washington's bats are healthy and play important roles in the ecosystem, including controlling insects, pollinating plants and dispersing seeds.
Park visitors should not touch or handle bats, dead or alive. If you encounter one, keep your distance and notify park staff, and if your pet comes into contact with a bat, contact a veterinarian.
- National park's famous bear cam captures horrific killing of cub
- 'Outlaw dog trainer' puts bounty out on Yellowstone wolf hunters
- A man went over Yosemite's Nevada Fall. A stranger tried to save him.
- Kids were allegedly poisoned in Yellowstone. The park says it isn't responsible.
We love national parks just as much as you do, so we have a newsletter that covers them from top to bottom. Sign up here.
This article originally published at Rabid bat gets tangled in visitor's hair at Olympic National Park.