Raccoons, Bats and Other Wildlife in Abandoned Buildings

The wildlife that matters in an abandoned building is bats, raccoons and rodents, because each one can carry something that harms people. Bats and raccoons are rabies carriers, raccoon droppings can hold roundworm eggs, and mice can spread a virus through dust. None of them has to attack you for the problem to start.

This is entertainment, not medical, safety or legal advice. Every claim here links to the agency it came from, and none of it is a reason to go inside anything.

Which animals are the real concern?

For rabies, CDC says the disease infects wildlife especially bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes in the US. The Illinois Department of Public Health’s list for this state is a little longer. It says rabies is most common in bats, skunks, raccoons, coyotes and foxes, that deer and woodchucks have also been found infected, and that rabies is rare in chipmunks, squirrels, rats and rabbits. Birds, snakes and insects never get it.

Rodents, birds and snakes are at the low end of that list. Bats and raccoons are at the high end.

Then there are the diseases that have nothing to do with bites. Raccoon droppings and rodent droppings are the source of two others in this post, and in both cases the way in is stirred up material or an accidental swallow.

What do you need to know about bats?

Bats are the one that gets people hurt. CDC says contact with infected bats is the leading cause of rabies deaths in people in the US, and that 7 out of 10 Americans who die from rabies were infected by bats. The reason is in the bite. CDC says bat bites can be tiny and you may not even know if you were bitten, and it says to avoid touching bats and to see a medical professional if you may have had contact with one.

Illinois officials say much the same. The state health department says rabid bats can be found anywhere in Illinois, that most bats don’t carry rabies, and that bats seen during the day, found where they don’t normally live or unable to fly are more likely to be infected. Its 2023 release said 27 rabid bats had been found in fourteen Illinois counties by late July that year. It also says that waking up to find a bat in the room counts as an exposure even if you can’t identify a bite.

NIOSH adds one more rule for anyone who comes across a dead bat. It says not to pick one up with bare hands, because the virus can persist in a carcass.

What about raccoons?

Raccoons can carry rabies, and they also leave behind something that is easy to overlook. CDC says that raccoon roundworm eggs are passed in the feces of infected raccoons, and that raccoons defecate in communal sites called latrines, which can be at the bases of trees or in unsealed attics.

People get infected by accidentally swallowing the eggs. CDC says the eggs aren’t immediately infectious when they are passed and need time to mature, but they are resistant to most environmental conditions and with enough moisture can persist for years. Young children face the highest risk because they put things in their mouths, and CDC also names hunters, trappers, taxidermists and wildlife handlers.

Because the eggs can last for years, an old latrine can still matter. I don’t know of a way to tell an old latrine from a stain, and the CDC page I read doesn’t offer one.

The raccoon in my own videos was a small one. In the mafia car hideout I said we weren’t going to climb on the cars, and that you could see a little raccoon was climbing around.

What do mice and rats leave behind?

Hantavirus. CDC says the virus can enter the air when fresh urine, droppings or nesting materials of an infected rodent are stirred up, and that it can also spread when saliva, urine or feces get into cuts or the eyes, nose or mouth. For the severe lung illness, CDC says people mostly contract hantavirus by breathing in the virus, that the early symptoms are flu like and hard to diagnose, and that the illness is fatal in nearly 4 in 10 of the people who get it. The deer mouse is the rodent that spreads the most common form in the U.S.

At the animal hospital I said I’d just heard a rat or a mouse, and a minute or so later someone says there’s a mouse in there, or a rat. I never saw it. The building also had a roof coming down, a floor falling in and a lot of mold.

Can you tell what is in the dark?

Not reliably, and my own video shows it. In the second building at the mafia car hideout I said there were wild bats in there, that they were flying around like crazy, and that they weren’t supposed to be active. I said they would bite and that rabies was the reason to leave. Then someone said they were birds, and I said okay, I guess they’re birds.

That is the problem in a few lines. I couldn’t tell bats from birds with my own eyes, with a camera in my hand. CDC says bat bites can be tiny, which is why it says to avoid touching bats and to get medical advice after contact. Birds bring their own hazard, which I cover in pigeon droppings and histoplasmosis.

In the Native American resort mansion a wasp nest turns up, and the comment is that it’s a good thing it’s winter. In the gun club owner’s house a dead animal turns up near the end of the video in a pile of buried stuff. I won’t pretend to know what it was.

What should you do if an animal gets near you?

Leave it alone, and get medical advice if it touches you. The Illinois health department says that after a bite or contact you should wash the wound with soap and water and get medical care immediately, and that you should notify your local health department or animal control right away. If the animal can’t be tested or observed, or tests positive, the state says preventive treatment should start immediately.

The state’s other advice is easy to remember. Don’t touch or feed wild animals, and don’t try to nurse a sick one. Its release uses the motto “Love your own, leave other animals alone.” That fits my code of leaving a place exactly as I found it.

For the rest of the hazards inside these buildings, see what’s actually dangerous inside abandoned buildings. How I stay safe on explores is in my guide, How to Find Abandoned Places.

Nobody can tell from a doorway what is living in a building, which is why the agencies’ advice comes down to leaving every animal alone.