How would you get a bat out of an office with high ceilings like 12 feet or so?

If you can’t shooo it out then it’s time to pull out the bb gun.

Turn the stereo up LOUD.

Swiffer telescopic broom.

Depending where you live those things are really well known for carrying rabies so be careful, and I would do the BBgun thing.

I’d consider using a large net. There are safe capture nets used by birders that would probably be suitable for this application. With the net (and even better if you have two) you can sort of “herd” the bat into a corner or other limited access point where it would be simpler to catch it with a smaller net that you could then use to transport eh animal outside where it could be safely released. Alternatively, of course, you could use the net/s to herd the bat to an open exit door or window, which might work if you can get it flying and still curtail its movement.

Call freaking animal control! Or do this :p

www.wildthingssanctuary.org

I couldn’t do a direct link to their section about bats cuz I’m on my old iPhone so this is just their intro page. But there’s a whole section about how much they love bats.

If you scroll down, there is also a link to a list of wildlife rehabilitaors for NY State if you need to find someone closer to you. (I grew up in NY so I’m aware of how large a state it really is :)

Contact these guys. They are one of the few bat rescue groups in your area.

I bet they’ll know someone who would be willing to come and catch and rescue this bat.It might even be the person who answers your inquiry.

Please don’t kill or shoot the bat if it isn’t necessary. Bats are very beneficial for the environment and eat millions of insects.

These guys love bats and know a lot about them. I’d be greatly surprised if they didn’t help you out for free.

I’ll also give you a little anecdote. When one of my cats had gotten herself trapped behind a wall, I didn’t know what to do.

But I was on a mailing list for the small shelter where I had adopted one of my cats.

I remembered an article in the lady newsletter about some local electricians who were cat lovers and had organized a fundraising event.

So, on a hunch I looked up the number for the electricians
union to see if they could give me any advice.

The guy whom I spoke to offered to come over and see what he could do (without my even asking).

He brought a Sawzall and some other tools and started cutting a hole in the closet wall.

Animal lovers of all types are great people willing to go the extra mile to help an animal in distress.

Contact this org. and I’ll bet there’s a much better solution than killing the poor bat. He didn’t go into the building with evil intent to infect anyone with rabies. He just wandered in and got trapped. Give him a break.

Save yourself the trouble and call animal control, you don’t need to go home with rabies!

Bats can be drought down to a reachable level. This makes using a net or other snare more feasible in a high ceiling situation. I sed to play with bats outdoors sometimes in this way. We would throw a Nerf football, ballcap, or similar object skyward when batswere hunting the area. As the item drops they will swoop toward it. We had a lot of fun teasing them in this manner. They would sometimes become entangled temporarily in the ball caps. All escaped before we could get within reach. The way bats are captured for research purposes involves using a net.

I would definitely not just “off” it without trying to get it out alive.

If you left the window open for the night, would it not voluntarily leave to go hunting?

I’d call animal control. Nearly every county and every city of significant size has one.

@Buttonstc gives great advice here. Be kind to the bats, they are currently facing very real danger of extinction, and we are going to be pretty screwed without them. You would not believe how many insects bats eat.

I agree they’re beneficial, but if they come into my space it’s at their peril.

I should also mention, since it was brought up here, that the idea that most bats carry rabies is a myth. It’s estimated that less than one half of one percent of bats are infected with rabies. Check out some other common myths about bats.

The better question is probably how the bat got in the office in the first place? Can it get out the same way eventually, and how can you prevent other bats from getting in?

If I had the means to catch the bat, I would. Otherwise I would call animal control. I would think that it would be as easy to find a long handled pool net as a BB gun, and less destructive.

I’m sorry. I have this horrible picture in mind of a bunch of heartless idiots dashing around an office with BB guns, pinking little chips in the paint and windows, while some frightened little mammal flies around desperately wanting to get back to her home and babies.
Is anyone else bothered by this?

Yeah, I’m bothered by the BB guns. Get out the 20 gauge and get it done in one step. If I want to make it more fair the .410.

BB Guns? You do know those things ricochet like crazy, right?
You’ll shoot your eye out.

Yes, I know that, that’s why I’d go with the shotgun.

Well then why not go with this one.
ww.youtube.com/watch?v=WOoUVeyaY_8

Sorry about that this link should work better ,that is if you still want to go the shotgun way, check it out….
http://youtu.be/WOoUVeyaY_8

Here is a solution if you don’t like bb guns.

I had a bat in my bedroom on two occasions. The best thing to do is to leave a window wide open at night and be sure to turn all the lights off and it will fly out.

For heaven’s sake, call a professional. Don’t go chasing the poor thing with guns and nets.

I agree with @hearkat. Unless something very unusual is happening among your bat population, all that is necessary are open windows, peace and quiet.

So, assuming you haven’t adopted the bat as a new pet – stranger pets have been adopted, after all – how did you get the bat to leave? (Note the choice of wording and my hope that the bat was inveigled, invited or otherwise induced to move, and not carried out in a sack.)

The neighbor came over and grabbed it in some thick plastic, then let it go outside.

Bats are extraordinary creatures. You seem to have come across more than your share recently. How odd…

I seem to be getting a lot of signs recently. I wonder where they would take me if I follow them.

I suggest that you read A Dirty Job, by Christopher Moore. I just finished it this morning. I first discovered him two months ago (and read my first discovery twice already), and followed it up with this. I have a bag of some of his other books to get to soon.

It’s telling you something…shutup and listen.