Yahoo News Toddler, two, wakes up screaming after bat bites him in cot in the middle of the night
A distraught mother has spoken of how her toddler’s screams woke her up after he was bitten by a bat in his cot.
Two-year-old Kian Mallinson was attacked by the flying nocturnal mammal in the middle of the night at his home in Hull.
Mum Jodie Smith was woken at 2am by the sound of Kian “crying and screaming” and pointing at the door.
However, Miss Smith initially did not know her song had been bitten until the next morning - when she discovered bite marks.
She was left “terrified” when she found the bat as she was making the bed.
Miss Smith said: “As I made his bed I flicked the duvet up.
“The bat flicked out and started crawling across his bedroom floor.
“I was terrified. I thought it was a tarantula at first. I've never screamed so loudly.”
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Miss Smith and partner Jack Mallinson managed to catch the bat - that was later identified as a pipistrelle bat - and it died several hours later.
Kian was taken to Leeds General Infirmary for a precautionary rabies jab and is recovering from his ordeal in a Batman t-shirt.
Miss Smith added: “We've got no idea how the bat ended up in his room.
“The window had been open earlier in the day so it's possible it was in there when we put him to bed. It's also possible it flew in through the bathroom window which was open.
“We think it might have been ill or disorientated when it came in. We can't believe it really happened.”
A spokesman for the Bats Conservation Trust said: “They don't want to enter the living areas of people's homes but it does happen by accident occasionally.”
The pipistrelle bat is the UK's most common breed, and has an average wing span of nine inches.
