Bats & Rabid Misinformation in the Grand Canyon

Why have cases of reported bat encounters at the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon drastically increased in the last several years? What are the chances of contracting rabies from a bat encounter? How is the safety of helicopter crews wrapped up in the physical location of a bat encounter? What does the vaccination process look like? In this episode, we utilize the personal story of a river runner's bat bite in the Grand Canyon, the expert perspectives of 2 ecologists, a CDC rabies expert, and the woman who oversees Search and Rescue in the Grand Canyon to provide insight into that real bat encounter that played out in the fall of 2023.

The River Radius Podcast · Beppe Amodio, Brandon Holton, Anya Metcalfe, Dr Ryan Wallace, Lisa Hendy, Grand Canyon National Park, USGS, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center