Bat Bites Person At New Mexico Walmart, Tests Positive For Rabies

You can find just about anything at a Walmart Supercenter – even rabid bats, apparently. Or at least that was the case at an Albuquerque store earlier this week.

KRWG in New Mexico reports that state health officials confirmed a bat that bit a person at a local Walmart store has tested positive for rabies.

The ordeal began around 9 a.m. on Tuesday when the mammal was found hanging upside-down from the basket of a motorized scooter being used by a customer at the checkout counter.

Another person who attempted to help remove the bat from the cart was bitten. It wasn’t specified if that person was a customer or an employee of the store.

The New Mexico Department of Health tells KRWG that the individual who was bitten will receive a series of vaccinations to prevent them from developing rabies.

“We would like anyone who may have touched this bat or handled it in any way to give us a call so we can interview them for possible exposure to rabies,” Department of Health Cabinet Secretary Retta Ward, said. “Just being near or in the vicinity of the bat is not an exposure.”

Rabies Confirmed in Bat found at Walmart Supercenter in Albuquerque [KRWG]

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