Bats and rabies in Wyoming

Bats and skunks are the animals most likely to carry rabies in Wyoming. Most bats are healthy, but a bat bite can be too small to see. Here is what Wyoming health and wildlife officials say to do after a bat encounter, and how to keep it from happening again.

The short version

Never touch a bat with bare hands.
If a bat bit, scratched or touched someone, or was in a room with a sleeping person or a young child, call a doctor or your county public health office right away.
If you can do it safely, contain the bat so it can be tested. Do not release it until you have talked with public health.
Keep dogs, cats and ferrets vaccinated, and ask your veterinarian about horses and livestock.
If bats are living in your building, plan a humane exclusion outside the summer pup season.

How common are rabid bats in Wyoming?

Rabies is present across Wyoming every year. The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) says bats and skunks are the most common carriers in the state, and its rabies page publishes yearly maps of the animals that tested positive.

Case counts are small and swing from year to year. WDH reported six confirmed animal rabies cases statewide in 2025. The first case of 2026 was a rabid bat found in May in a backyard in a downtown residential neighborhood in Sheridan County. By the fall 2026 newsletter of the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory in Laramie, which does the state’s animal rabies testing, the lab had confirmed nine rabies-positive bats for the year.

Local cases make the news too. In Cheyenne, a bat found on the ground in Lions Park on Memorial Day 2024 tested positive. In Casper, Metro Animal Services had three rabid bats over the summer of 2018, including one found inside a home after it bit a kitten.

What counts as a possible exposure

WDH and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advise getting medical advice right away if:

a bat bit or scratched someone, or landed on their bare skin;
bat saliva may have gotten into a cut, the eyes, nose or mouth;
someone woke up with a bat in the room;
a bat was found near a young child or anyone who could not reliably say whether they were touched;
a pet or livestock animal had contact with a bat (call your veterinarian too).

Wash any bite or scratch with soap and water. Rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms start, but treatment given promptly after an exposure prevents it. The decision about treatment belongs to your doctor and public health, and testing the bat can sometimes rule it out.

Who to call in Wyoming

Start with your doctor or your county public health office. Contacts for the largest cities and the state:

Cheyenne and Laramie County: Cheyenne Laramie County Public Health, 100 Central Ave., (307) 633-4000; 24/7 public health emergency line 1-888-996-9104. City of Cheyenne Animal Control, (307) 637-6206, or (307) 637-6524 after hours. See bat removal in Cheyenne.
Casper and Natrona County: Casper-Natrona County Health Department, 1017 S. Conwell St., (307) 235-9340. Metro Animal Services, (307) 235-8398; report unusual animal behavior through Casper’s non-emergency line, (307) 235-8278. See bat removal in Casper.
Statewide: the WDH Public Health Veterinarian can be reached at (307) 777-5825. Rabies testing is done at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory, 1174 Snowy Range Rd., Laramie, (307) 766-9925; your animal control officer, veterinarian or public health office can help arrange submission.
Injured bats, bats flying in winter, or general bat questions: Wyoming Game and Fish. Its Nongame Program in Lander handles bat issues at (307) 332-2688.

How to contain a bat for testing

Do this only if someone may have been exposed, and only if you can do it without touching the bat. The CDC recommends leather work gloves. Wait until the bat lands, cover it with a small box or plastic container, slide a piece of cardboard under the container to trap it, and tape the cardboard on. Do not crush the bat. The head must be intact for testing. Then call public health or animal control about getting it tested, and do not let it go until you have talked with them.

If nobody had contact with the bat, there is no need to test it. Wyoming Game and Fish suggests closing the room off from the rest of the house, opening a window and removing the screen, and leaving the light off so the bat can find its own way out. Keep children and pets out of the room.

One bat inside can mean a colony

A bat in the living space sometimes comes from a colony in the attic, walls or chimney that has found a gap around a light fixture, attic hatch, duct or plumbing chase. If you see bats indoors more than once, or notice droppings, staining or bats leaving the roofline at dusk, the building probably has a roost. Bats can get through openings as small as a quarter inch, according to the CDC. If a bat turns up indoors in winter, see our guide to bats in winter in Wyoming. To check whether bats are roosting in the building, see the signs of bats in your house.

Wyoming Game and Fish advises against exclusion during summer, because one-way doors can separate mothers from flightless pups that will not survive alone. It recommends late summer or early fall, and notes that keeping or rehabilitating a bat without a permit is illegal. The permanent fix is humane one-way exclusion followed by sealing every gap. Read more about bat colony removal, bat-proofing, guano cleanup and Wyoming bat species.

Common questions

Do most bats in Wyoming have rabies?

No. Most bats are healthy. But the Wyoming Department of Health says bats and skunks are the most common carriers of rabies in Wyoming, and bat bites are not always visible, so any bat that may have touched a person or pet should be taken seriously.

How many rabid bats are found in Wyoming?

The number changes every year. The Wyoming Department of Health reported six confirmed animal rabies cases statewide in 2025. In 2026 the first case was a bat found in May in a Sheridan County backyard, and by its fall 2026 newsletter the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory had confirmed nine rabies-positive bats for the year.

I woke up and found a bat in my bedroom. What should I do?

Call your doctor or your county public health office right away, even if you see no bite. The Wyoming Department of Health advises medical advice for anyone who wakes up with a bat in the room. If you can do it without touching the bat, contain it so it can be tested.

Can I get rabies from bat droppings?

The Wyoming Department of Health says rabies is not spread by touching an animal or its feces or urine. Bat guano does carry a different risk: it can harbor the fungus that causes histoplasmosis, so do not sweep or vacuum it without protection.

How do I keep bats out of my house for good?

Seal the gaps bats use, but only after the bats are out. Wyoming Game and Fish recommends one-way doors in late summer or early fall, after pups can fly; sealing a roost earlier traps young bats inside. One-way exclusion followed by permanent sealing is the lasting fix.

Local bat removal pages

Sources

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