Toronto Public Health Looking for Person Who ‘Physically Handled’ Bat Showing Symptoms of Rabies

A little brown bat is shown in a handout photo. The Canadian Press/HO-Cory Olson, WCS Canada

Toronto’s health authority is looking for a person who came into contact with an injured bat suspected of having rabies. Meanwhile a county in Ontario has confirmed a separate case of exposure to the virus.

In a press release issued on June 27, Toronto Public Health (TPH) said the unidentified person had “physically handled” the bat at the north entrance of 88–100 Harbour Street on Wednesday, June 25, at around 9:24 a.m.

TPH described the person as being approximately five feet eight inches tall, with a beard, and wearing eyeglasses, a black T-shirt, black pants, and white sneakers, and noted that the person was holding a black water bottle at the time.

The agency urged the person who had handled with the bat—or anyone who knows an individual fitting the description—to immediately contact TPH during regular business hours Monday to Friday or call 311 after hours and ask to speak to the Healthy Environments manager.

Rabies is a viral infection that affects the nervous system of mammals, including humans, the release said, noting that if left untreated before symptoms appear, the infection can be fatal.

“The rabies virus is spread through the saliva of an infected animal, usually entering through a bite or more rarely a scratch.”

Though the infection is almost always fatal without prompt treatment, TPH said the overall risk of being exposed to rabies in Toronto is very low unless a person has come into direct contact with the saliva of an infected animal.

Residents are advised to take preventive measures to reduce their risk of rabies exposure. TPH recommends staying away from all wild animals even if they appear tame, injured, or sick. For pet owners, the agency urged them to ensure their pets are up to date with rabies vaccinations, kept away from wild animals, and not allowed to roam unsupervised.

“Always supervise dogs. Dogs should not run loose in public spaces in the city, except in off-leash parks,” the release noted regarding dogs in particular.

Confirmed Exposure

A public health unit in Ontario on June 27 confirmed a human case of rabies after a person was exposed to a bat that tested positive for the rabies virus.

Grand Erie Public Health (GEPH), which serves Brant County, the City of Brantford, Haldimand County, and Norfolk Country in southern Ontario, said the bat was found in Brantford-Brant.

“The individual exposed to the bat is receiving post exposure rabies prophylaxis which includes rabies immune globulin and a series of rabies vaccine,” the health unit said in a news release.

This is the second case of human rabies reported in the area in the past year.

In September 2024, the former Brant County Health Unit, which merged with another health unit earlier this year to form GEPH, reported that a local Brantford-Brant resident had contracted the virus from a bat in the Gowganda area of the Timiskaming region in northeastern Ontario.

That case was the first human rabies case reported in the province since 1967, the health unit said in its Sept. 6, 2024, news release.

Cases of rabies in humans are rare in Canada, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which noted on a page on its website dated Oct. 3, 2024, that 28 fatal cases have been reported since national tracking began in 1924.

The national health agency said the last human case of rabies contracted from a non-flying animal in Canada was in 1967. “Since then, all human cases of rabies in Canada have been from exposure to bats or due to exposures while in another country.”

Domestic human rabies cases through contact with rabid bats have also been reported in three other provinces: two cases in British Columbia in 2019 and 2003. one in Alberta, in 2007, and one in Quebec, in 2000, the agency said on its webpage.

“In Canada the animals that most often transmit rabies are bats, skunks and foxes,” the PHAC said on an information page on its website.

Chandra Philip contributed to this report.