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Worked at a produce storage facility in Pearl City found a small bat alive under a pallet in a refrigerated container carrying a shipment of radishes and turnips from Korea on Jan. 6. The bat was euthanized and tested for rabies. The tests came back negative.
Worked at a produce storage facility in Pearl City found a small bat alive under a pallet in a refrigerated container carrying a shipment of radishes and turnips from Korea on Jan. 6. The bat was euthanized and tested for rabies. The tests came back negative.
A live bat discovered in a shipment of radishes and turnips from Korea tested negative for rabies after it was discovered in a Pearl City produce storage facility last week, state agriculture officials said today.
The brown-colored bat, with a wingspan of about seven inches, was killed out of concerns it could have rabies, agriculture officials said.
Hawaii is the only U.S. state — and one of the few places in the world — that is free of rabies, agriculture officials said.
The bat was captured alive from under a pallet in a refrigerated container of radishes and turnips by workers at the Pearl City storage facility.
The bat had been in the container for about 30 days and agriculture officials believe it went into hibernation and was captured before it warmed up.
Agriculture officials were trying to identify its species.
Tissue samples sent to the State Laboratory at the Department of Health were negative on Friday for the rabies virus.
In 2006, a live Mexican fishing bat was found in an office at Aloha Tower. It also tested negative for rabies.
Agriculture officials ask people who see or captured illegal and invasive species to call the state’s Pest Hotline at 643-PEST (7378).
