Rabies alert issued after bat incident at Roger Williams Zoo in Rhode Island

The Rhode Island Department of Health is alerting the public to an incident last month involving a potentially rabid bat at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. 

The department said that on August 24, visitors reported seeing a bat in the zoo's water play area "exhibiting behavior that is consistent with rabies." State health officials learned of the incident on Friday and are now investigating.

"The zoo's veterinarian informed RIDOH that the incident was considered to be a low risk of human exposure, the bat was safely discarded per protocol, and there were no observations or reports of the bat prior to August 24," the department said.

The bat was wild and not part of the zoo's collection.

The bat was discarded before it could be tested for rabies, the department said. Even though the incident happened several weeks ago, health officials want anyone who had contact with a bat in the zoo around that time to contact them at 401-222-2577.

The department said bats have small teeth and people don't always know that they have been bitten.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an alert this week saying there's been an increase in reports of human exposures to rabid or possibly rabid animals nationwide. Rhode Island health officials said they've also seen "an elevated number of rabid animals" this year, mostly in raccoons and bats.

In Massachusetts, wildlife experts are dropping edible rabies vaccine packets out of a helicopter from Cape Cod to the South Shore, hoping to vaccinate wild animals against the disease.

Rabies affects the central nervous system and is almost always deadly in humans if the patient doesn't receive appropriate medical treatment before symptoms appear.

Earlier this week, the zoo said one of its zebras died from a critical wound, "presumably inflicted by a habitat mate."