Residents on the tenth floor of Centennial Halls have complained that an unknown number of bats have settled in between the external wall and the interior brick for the last three weeks.

“We have had more than one incident reported: one where we believe a bat or bats entered through an external space and did not have access to internal space and others when a common space window was apparently left open,” said Deborah Bain, assistant director of housing operations.

Freshman Carly Moore said she returned to her dorm from class last Tuesday evening to a bat “swooping” through the common area. She said junior Chelsea Rebro, the resident assistant, saw what she thought was a baby bat crawling on the ground, then scale the wall and go back in between the wall space.

Rebro said that was the breaking point.

“They shouldn’t be flying around,” said Rebro “I contacted the administrator on call and notified them that there was an incident. The late-night maintenance showed up, basically did a spot check, found two bats, caught them in a trash can and released them out the window.”

According to Bain, the bats entered the common room wall through spaces in the metal linings by the window that keep water out. Facilities previously responded to a complaint on Friday, May 11, by making space in the infrastructure of the common area on the 10th floor to remove the bats and inspect the area to find the point of entry. The following Monday and Tuesday it was sealed off with a tarp.

Though Bain said the bats had been removed last Thursday, Rebro said she was unconvinced.

“There are still bats,” said Rebro. “We can still hear them. They put up a plastic tarp over the window, which is closing the space off and separating the hole from the lobby so they can go outside through a tube, which eliminated part of the problem.”

Yesterday, Moore said there was still a bad odor.

“I haven’t heard the sound as much [since last week], but the smell is bad,” said Moore. “This concerned me because if baby bats can’t fly and the mom or dad left the babies, they might have died, causing the smell.”

Moore initially reported noises in the wall next to her closet to the front desk of the building on May 7.

“I could smell it from my closet; I thought it was mouse poop,” said Moore. “And I could hear it through my wall, a scratching and screeching something between a bird and a rat sound.”

According to Bain, a housing staff member immediately contacted the facilities department to have the problem inspected upon learning of the sounds and smells.

“It was explained that the problem was contained to that area and that it was not possible for the bat to get out of that space or into any residents rooms,” Bain said last Thursday. “The student who reported the issue was affected by noise only. They were never physically in her room or able to get through to the brick wall.”

Bain recommends that students keep the screens on their windows to avoid the possibility of bats entering the building again in the future.

In addition, repairs to the building are intended to resolve the recurring problem.

Bain said a similar issue took place last year when a small gap in the window flashing was discovered.

“We had the building flashing caulked on the outside… to keep them from getting in and [we] believed that we solved the issue,” said Bain.

She said it is ideal to remove the bats in a humane manner, which has thus far been accomplished.

Though bats are not considered aggressive animals, Rebro said she is concerned having bats present in the building presents a health hazard.

“I don’t know what diseases they’re carrying,” said Rebro. “It only takes a little scratch to get rabies.”

While maintenance has attempted to control the issue, Rebro said she feels there is a lack of communication, and the problem requires another inspection.

“I would like to see more follow-up with maintenance,” said Rebro. “They should be on top of the problem … to see if there are any more [bats].”

Rebro said Facilities Management may have to tear down the whole wall.

If Facilities Management  is unable to remove the animals or complete a need, external contractors will come in and remove the bats.