Lane County warns after third rabid bat found in 2026

If a bat bites a person in Lane County, wash the wound immediately with soap and water, get medical care, and report the contact to Lane County Public Health. If a pet or child touched a bat, keep them away from the animal and treat the encounter as urgent.

Lane County Public Health said a bat found in the county on July 13 tested positive for rabies, the third rabies-positive bat identified in Lane County in 2026. The result was confirmed by the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Oregon State University, and the county’s warning repeated a familiar message for pet owners: keep dogs and cats vaccinated against rabies.

Health officials say the immediate risk is tied to direct contact, not to bats being common in neighborhoods. Oregon Health Authority guidance says bats are the only reservoir species for rabies in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and that other animals such as foxes, coyotes and cats are usually infected only after spillover from rabid bat populations. That makes bats the species public health agencies watch most closely, especially when one has touched a person or a pet.

State guidance says anyone who knows about contact with a bat or a bite from a potentially rabid animal must report it to the local health department within one working day. If a bat had contact with a person or pet, it should be captured and tested for rabies. Residents should not handle bats or other wild animals, especially if they appear sick or injured, and children and pets should be kept away from them.

The warning lands against a broader 2026 pattern in Oregon, where bats have continued to turn up as the recurring source of rabies-positive animals. A recent Douglas County case was the first county case there this year and the fourth rabid animal reported in Oregon in 2026. For Lane County, the third positive bat is a reminder that encounters with wildlife need to be treated as a public health issue, not a minor nuisance.

That urgency comes from the disease itself: Oregon public-health guidance says rabies is invariably fatal once symptoms appear. For Lane County households, the clearest protection is simple and immediate, avoid bare-handed contact with bats, vaccinate pets and report any exposure fast enough for testing and treatment to happen in time.