Bats infest NAU dorm; student's parent says the real issue is how the school responded
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - A Northern Arizona University freshman dorm infested with bats is causing students to pack up their belongings and move to another building. Now a parent of an NAU student says they are frustrated the school did not address the problem sooner.
In early September, NAU says a bat was captured in one of NAU's dorms: Mountain View Hall, and it tested positive for rabies.
"It's been happening since Labor Day. That's when we first started getting alerted, with our daughter sending home videos of the bats herding, which is actually called a cloud of bats, herding outside their windows."
Last weekend, NAU parent Erik Francis visited his daughter and saw the bats for himself, flying right outside her dorm room.
"Until recently, it's really escalated to where a student took a picture of a bat that was in her bed in the dorm. Actually, her room was a couple of rooms away from my daughter's."
NAU says when the bat in September tested positive for rabies, a pest control contractor came out to the scene. They were back outside Mountain View again on October 4.
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The university also gave a notice in the dorm, warning students against the bats in their building and telling them to use caution. The most recent update students received was from October 3.
"They told the kids last night at 10:30 p.m., pack a bag for five to seven days. You're moving out, and you're not coming back. So, these kids right now still don't know where they're moving to."
NAU sent a statement to FOX 10 saying recently, additional bats have been found, despite mitigation efforts. And the best option is to move all the students to nearby apartments. It's causing frustration for NAU students and parents.
"The real issue is how Northern Arizona University has responded to this situation. They've known about this for weeks. The moment they should have seen that there was more than one bat, that they're what's called a cauldron of bats, which is over 100 bats, they should have taken more proactive measures and been more responsive than being reactive."
NAU says they've been working closely with Coconino County Health and Human Services since the first bat was discovered.