Students, staff at Tobique Valley school sent home while bats removed

There were 13 unwelcome visitors at Tobique Valley Middle High School on Monday morning.

Crystal O'Neil of Plaster Rock, who has two children in the school, said her daughter texted her that bats were flying around.

"I said, 'What do you mean, 11 bats in the building?'" O'Neil said. "She said, 'Mom, there's never been this many.'"

O'Neil said she called the Anglophone West School District, reported the situation to the Department of Health and called the school to sign her kids out for the day.

In a statement to CBC News on early Monday afternoon, Paul MacIntosh, spokesperson for Anglophone West, said in an email that all students and staff were dismissed late morning and the "facilities team" began the removal process.

He said 13 brown bats were accounted for and removed from the building. 

"This has been a historical issue at TVHS that has led to numerous interventions over the years, including a large remediation just last year," MacIntosh wrote. 

"With some bat species being threatened or endangered in recent years, management efforts need to be careful and non-lethal."

CBC News requested information about the situation from the Deparment of Health and and the Education Department, but did not receive a response before publication. 

O'Neil said she has been aware of the bat problem at the school for awhile now because her niece and nephew had attended the school, which contains grades 6-12, and now her own kids are there.

She said in the past, the woodshop teachers have had the students build bat houses to put down by the river in an attempt to deter the bats from coming into the school. 

And while she said one or two bats would be fine, this many has her worried about the fecal matter scattered around the school and the risk to students.

Karen Vanderwolf, a researcher in Waterloo, Ont., who does some work with bats in New Brunswick, said there are seven species of bats in the province — three of which fly south for the winter. 

The other four species overwinter in caves. She said big brown bats are known to overwinter in buildings, too. 

"Most of the time, people aren't even aware of it, but once the weather starts warming up, as it certainly has been, the bats start waking up, and sometimes they do find their way into the living spaces," said Vanderwolf.

If this happens, she said it's important that people don't touch the bats with their bare hands as there could be concerns with rabies transmission.

As for the bat feces, known as guano, it should be treated like any other fecal matter, said Vanderwolf. If you touch it, just wash your hands afterwards as you would with human or dog feces. 

Sometimes, if there are very large bat colonies and a big build-up of guano, there can be concern over a fungus called histoplasmosis, said Vanderwolf, but it's pretty rare and not very common in healthy Canadians.

Just scattered pellets though, don't pose an inhalation risk, she said.

MacIntosh said district staff will inspect the school early Tuesday morning to see if any further closure is necessary.

He said the district was also examining contingency plans in the case that an extended closure is required. 

As for O'Neil, she said even if Monday's 13 bats are gone, she worries about there being more bats or feces in the attic of the school.

"The province owes it to not only the students, but the faculty members and the teachers, to provide them with a safe work and learning environment."