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Not commenting on the likelihood of rabies, but bats hang out at around human-height well away from caves all the time (at dusk/night, anyway). Not uncommon at
by handrous 5y ago
Not commenting on the likelihood of rabies, but bats hang out at around human-height well away from caves all the time (at dusk/night, anyway). Not uncommon at all. Aside from hearing and seeing them flying low fairly often (which one does), it's not unusual for them to hit things like barbed wire fences and get killed, which means they must have been flying at that height.
- nexuist 5y agoSure, I'm not arguing that it's impossible to get bitten by bat, but you'd have to be extremely unlikely to get bitten by one in your sleep, unless you sleep standing up and a bat flies straight into you somehow.
- handrous 5y agoOrdinarily, yeah. Dunno whether bats do the same thing other mammals (including humans) do when they're symptomatic with rabies, though. Might get paranoid and aggressive like the rest of us. Still, agreed that being bitten in one's sleep doesn't seem super likely. Regardless, I'd bet the knowledge that we (effectively) cannot cure rabies once it's symptomatic and that it's (more or less) a slow, horrifying death sentence isn't as widespread as one might hope. I'd expect there's a greater risk of someone being bitten and not knowing they absolutely need to go get treated ASAP, than of someone getting bitten and not realizing it.