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Scott McCrea wrote:Maybe some Texas cavers (Crash?) could contact the Spurs and get a status update on the bat and suggest they make a donation to the NSS WNS Fund in memory of the bat. Seriously.
Team officials could not locate the bat after Saturday's game against Sacramento, so it could not be tested for disease. Which meant Ginobili will spend the next month getting a series of precautionary shots to protect against rabies.
"It was pretty funny at the time," Ginobili said before practice this afternoon. "Now, it's not. I have to get like a million shots."
"It wasn't so much fun," Ginobili said. "The bat survived. I'm fine. I'm not going to have rabies. The bat won."
http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/c ... ts-fo.html
NZcaver wrote:It appears he initially stunned the bat, not killed it. Of course there are conflicting reports about whether it later died or flew away unharmed.
Not trying to buck the trend or anything... but hey I can understand a guy swatting at some animal he perceives to be repeatedly harassing him (and others). Personally I've never felt threatened by bats flying at me, but there's been a couple of bird incidents which were a different story. Some might consider the hand swat to be a natural reaction - an 'offensive defense'. On the other hand this guy Manu should have known better than to do it, especially on camera during a basketball game. But it is what it is, and I imagine he's learned not to try this again.
And this from me, who kinda likes bats but doesn't really give a cr@p about the NBA.
Last week, Bat Conservation International suggested that members help turn the
widely publicized bat-swatting incident at a San Antonio Spurs basketball game
into an educational message: a bat should never be touched with bare hands. Thanks
to those of you who responded, Manu sent a very positive message to the public.
He not only emphasized that bats should not be handled, but also mentioned the
importance of bats to the ecosystem. We couldn't have hoped for a better response!
Thanks to all of you who helped by writing to the NBA.
Here's Ginobili's complete statement:
"Just wanted to give you guys an update on the bat situation. As many of you
already know, it wasn't a great idea. Not only for the fact that bats are great
part of the ecosystem, but also because some carry rabies, which is an incurable
disease. That's why I had to get vaccinated today (and it wasn't just one shot).
Only 0.5% to 3% of the bat populations carry the disease, but if you can't find
the animal, it's not recommended to take any risks [because] it can kill you!
Since after the incident, the usher took it outside and the bat flew away (not
lying!), there was no way of knowing if he was infected or not, so I had to do
the safe thing. Finally, please, don't do it at home or anywhere; avoid contact
with bats, skunks, raccoons, rats and animals like that."
Chads93GT wrote:I have had bats land on me while surveying, crawl around on me till I picked them off and tossed them in the air so they would fly away.
I didn't think you could get rabies by just touching something. Am I mistaken? Should I get shots too or is this guy just............over reacting.
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