Found a dead bat in our backyard in Roslindale. We think it suffered an injury which caused its death, but does anyone know if there is an agency in Boston or Mass that would want to know this info or look at the body? (By the way I love bats, so no need to share your bat hysteria if you are feeling any on our behalf).

The Boston Public Health Commission reports a bat found on the sidewalk in front of 244 Clarendon St. yesterday afternoon has tested positive for rabies. Anybody who might have had direct contact with the bat should contact both the commission - at 617-534-5611 - and a doctor.

The commission says Animal Control officers responded to multiple calls from the neighborhood - and that it has two possible reports of somebody being bitten by the bat.

Around 3:45 p.m. today, the Animal Rescue League of Boston tweeted:

A call for a bat swimming in a toliet in Beacon Hill came in...ARL en route.

Less than ten minutes later we learned the bat was successfully rescued.

Karen Wise explains why her entire family is now getting rabies shots, not that she knows for a fact that the bat that was flying around in her house was rabid, since her husband let it fly out, when, as they now know, you're supposed to trap it somehow and let Animal Control test it for rabies.

Or why you should leave all the basement lights on all the time:

I went down to the basement today to get the laundry and opened the door into the basement and there was a thing that looked kind of like a chunk of lint or a sock hanging on the edge of the door. I grabbed it and it was warm and furry and surprising. I dropped it and jumped back. It was a bat. ...