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

Hannah Rudderham · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 17, 2025 1:51 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

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

Crystal O'Neil of Plaster Rock, who has 2 children in the school, said her girl texted her that bats were flying around.

"I said, 'What bash you mean, 11 bats successful the building?'" O'Neil said. "She said, 'Mom, there's ne'er been this many.'"

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

In a connection to CBC News connected aboriginal Monday afternoon, Paul MacIntosh, spokesperson for Anglophone West, said successful an email that each students and unit were dismissed precocious morning and the "facilities team" began the removal process.

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

"This has been a humanities contented astatine TVHS that has led to galore interventions implicit the years, including a ample remediation conscionable past year," MacIntosh wrote. 

"With immoderate bat taxon being threatened oregon endangered successful caller years, absorption efforts request to beryllium cautious and non-lethal."

CBC News requested accusation astir the concern from the Deparment of Health and and the Education Department, but did not person a effect earlier publication. 

O'Neil said she has been alert of the bat occupation astatine the schoolhouse for awhile present due to the fact that her niece and nephew had attended the school, which contains grades 6-12, and present her ain kids are there.

She said successful the past, the woodshop teachers person had the students physique bat houses to enactment down by the stream successful an effort to deter the bats from coming into the school. 

And portion she said 1 oregon 2 bats would beryllium fine, this galore has her disquieted astir the fecal substance scattered astir the schoolhouse and the hazard to students.

Karen Vanderwolf, a researcher successful Waterloo, Ont., who does immoderate enactment with bats successful New Brunswick, said determination are 7 taxon of bats successful the state — 3 of which alert southbound for the winter. 

The different 4 taxon overwinter successful caves. She said large brownish bats are known to overwinter successful buildings. 

"Most of the time, radical aren't adjacent alert of it, but erstwhile the upwind starts warming up, arsenic it surely has been, the bats commencement waking up, and sometimes they bash find their mode into the surviving spaces," said Vanderwolf.

If this happens, she said it's important that radical don't interaction the bats with their bare hands arsenic determination could beryllium concerns with rabies transmission.

As for the bat feces, known arsenic guano, it should beryllium treated similar immoderate different fecal matter, said Vanderwolf. If you interaction it, conscionable lavation your hands afterwards arsenic you would with quality oregon canine feces. 

Sometimes, if determination are precise ample bat colonies and a large build-up of guano, determination tin beryllium interest implicit a fungus called histoplasmosis, said Vanderwolf, but it's beauteous uncommon and not precise communal in healthy Canadians.

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

MacIntosh said territory unit volition inspect the schoolhouse aboriginal Tuesday greeting to spot if immoderate further closure is necessary.

He said the territory was besides examining contingency plans successful the lawsuit that an extended closure is required. 

As for O'Neil, she said adjacent if Monday's 13 bats are gone, she worries astir determination being much bats oregon feces successful the attic of the school.

"The state owes it to not lone the students, but the module members and the teachers, to supply them with a harmless enactment and learning environment."