[raybbr]

The carry rabies. They bite your cat or dog. Your pet suffers horribly. Your pet dies. They bite you, you suffer horribly, then YOU die.

Ummm... I have never heard of a bat biting a pet. Unless some cat tried to catch it. They do not all carry rabies. "Bats can get the rabies virus, but the incidence of bats and rabies is very low, usually only about one half of one percent of bats tested, test positive for the virus."

People are afraid of bats for no good reason.

My wife hated bats till my kindergarten son did a project on them. Now she likes them. Do some research first before condemning them.

[healy61]

If I release a bat through an open door, does the bat find it’s way back into my house?

[Kozak]

While the percentage of bats infected generally ranges from 0.5 to 2%, according to the CDC:

Wild Animals

Wild animals accounted for 92% of reported cases of rabies in 2006. Raccoons continued to be the most frequently reported rabid wildlife species (37.7% of all animal cases during 2006), followed by bats (24.4%), skunks (21.5%), foxes (6.2%), and other wild animals, including rodents and lagomorphs (0.6%). Reported cases increased among all wild animals during 2006.

and

28 out of 37 confirmed US cases of rabies (1995-2006) were from exposure to bats.

That does not mean people should have an inordinate fear of bats, but it definitely shows it's a bad idea to have them in the parts of a house where they can contact humans or pets. A major reason is if bats are out in daylight or allow people to come near, the chance goes up that the bat is indeed infected with rabies.