Oklahoma Student Sues University For $175,000 After Being Bitten In Dorm Bat Infestation
A student in Oklahoma is suing her university for $175,000 over claims that she was bitten by ticks as a result of a bat infestation that was not contained.
Mary Ledbetter alleges that she woke up several times one night in August 2019 with "unknown red bites on her face" and "all over the parts of her body not covered with clothing," while living in Patchin Hall at Oklahoma State University (OSU).
Her legal complaint, filed in November, has come to light as more students allege further bat sightings in the dorms.
Her lawyer, Randall Gill, said Ledbetter was "not aware the bites were being caused by bat ticks deeply nested and rooted in her dorm room ceiling from bats living above her bed in the ceiling."
"OSU treated Mary as if she were a nuisance and continuously assured Mary the dorm room was safe when it was not. OSU never properly eradicated the bats or bat ticks in Patchin Hall," Gill added.
The student is seeking $175,000 in damages for physical and emotional trauma.
Bat ticks are often found in buildings infested with bats. Ledbetter's complaint cited CDC statistics stating that bats cause seven out of 10 rabies deaths in the U.S. The document alleges that after more than 25 separate bites, the student "had a substantial risk of rabies transmittal of blood," but that the OSU Health Clinic staff failed to give her preventative rabies shots straight away, despite her demanding it.
After being bitten multiple times, Ledbetter was given eight rabies shots, which gave her symptoms including fever, shaking and fatigue, according to university student newspaper O Colly, which first reported the lawsuit.
Newsweek has contacted Gill and OSU for comment on the lawsuit.
Other students have complained about bat infestations in the dorms.
A bat was spotted in one of the Patching-Jones Hall dorms earlier this week, KFOR reported.
"We got a text in our dorm GroupMe that there was indeed a bat in the elevator and they just said to avoid it and not go in it," student Connor Peters said.
On website Collegefession, where students can anonymously air their complaints about their university, one first year student from OSU said a bat was perched on their head in the middle of the night.
"I'm a freshman so I'm required to live in the dorms on campus. In the middle of the night I woke up and felt a tickle on my forehead. I went to scratch it, still half asleep, and felt a furry animal on my head.
"I flipped tf [the f***] out and swatted it at the wall. My roommate woke up... ..and turned on the light and there was a BAT in my bed, crawling across the sheet. Like an actual, live bat. I hate the dorms almost as much as I hate 2020. And now I hate bats more than both."
KFOR reported that an email has been sent to dorm residents alerting them that "we have had bats make their way into the upper floors of Patching-Jones Hall. Please be aware that as the year goes on this could happen again!"
