By Emma Richter For Dailymail.Com
07:01 07 Feb 2024, updated 07:51 07 Feb 2024
Isaiah and Monica Grant were compelled to relocate from their rental home in Ardsley Park, Georgia, due to a significant bat infestation. Since January 18, about 80 bats have appeared at their home.
The couple and their two kids have been staying with a neighbor and they have found a temporary home to live in. A family in Georgia has been forced out of their home after it was invaded by nearly 80 bats.
Isaiah and Monica Grant have refused to enter their home in Ardsley Park, Georgia, after the Georgia Department of Public Health declared the home an ‘imminent health risk’ on January 29. ‘This has been so traumatizing,’ Monica told WSAV about the rental home that she shares with her husband, toddler, and infant child.
The couple reported they spotted their first bat in the home on January 18, and within a couple of days, they noticed more swarming inside.
‘Three bats come flying down the stairs as we’re sitting in our living room. They start coming through the vents. The kids were already asleep,’ Monica said. ‘We were like we’re done, we have to get out of here, something is wrong.’
Isaiah and Monica Grant have refused to enter their home in Ardsley Park, Georgia, after they found a swarm of bats inside. The Georgia Department of Public Health said the home was an ‘imminent health risk.’ Since the family, who originally lived in Chicago, fled their new home they have gone on to live with a neighbor.
The owner of the rental, Cathleen Barela of Property Management Company, told News 3 the company has spoken with the family and has been in contact with Savannah Code Compliance. ‘Code Compliance left a violation due to the pressure they were getting from the tenants,’ Barela said.
She added the notice said the bats ‘needed to be removed from the property’ and they were aware that steps were being made to get that taken care of. ‘We acted as any property manager would, and had it addressed based on when they reported it,’ Barela added.
Though the property owner said everything is under control, the Grant family said they are still dealing with inconveniences. All four of them were instructed to immediately get rabies shots, which they have to pay for themselves.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, ‘bats are the leading cause of rabies deaths in people in the United States.’
The family has since set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for them to buy a new house and cover medical bills as they have had to keep getting tested for rabies due to the infestation.
‘There is no treatment for rabies. Either you get the vaccine or you die,’ the worried mother said. Isaiah, the father, said there is ‘no manageable way of understanding if you’ve been bitten.’
The family has gone on to start a GoFundMe page to help raise money for a new home and growing medical bills. The donation page has raised over $11,700 as of Wednesday. ‘We have renters insurance but they’ve stated to use that “a bat infestation is not a covered loss” and that despite the fact that the home has been declared uninhabitable that it would have to be for a reason that is a covered loss,’ Isaiah said on the page. ‘Dracula is real, ya’ll,’ he added.
Another bat is seen hanging from a sheer white curtain in the home. The family has since moved into a townhome until they figure out their next steps. In an update from February 2, the father and husband said he and his family have been ‘overwhelmed by the support’ they’ve received, and were contacted by someone with a furnished townhouse to use. ‘We will be moving into a townhouse for the next month as we work to figure out what to do next,’ Isaiah said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported there are 16 different species of bats in the state of Georgia. Though most bats don’t have rabies, it is not possible to tell if they do or not just by looking at it, the viral disease has to be tested and confirmed in a lab, the CDC said.
