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SARAH FILI IS HERE LIVE TONIGHT. DAVID JULIE OF THOSE 15 ANIMALS THAT TESTED POSITIVE 12 WERE BAD. RIGHT HERE IN THE METRO WITH THOSE POSITIVE CASES EXPERTS ARE WARNING YOU TO BE CAREFUL IF YOU COME INTO CONTACT WITH A BAT AND BE READY TO GET A SHOT IF YOU’RE EXPOSED ONE WOMAN TELLS US THAT SHOT COMES WITH A HIGH PRICE TAG. I THOUGHT IT WAS SPRINKLING TURNS OUT JULIE. KENNEY WASN’T HEARING RAIN. I DON’T KNOW IF I FELT THE WIND, BUT I LOOKED UP AND IT IS FLYING A BAT IS FLYING OVER ME. JUST THAT WAY THIS WAY. SHE AND HER HUSBAND COULDN’T CATCH THE BAT SO THEY CALLED THE, NEBRASKA HUMANE. ENCOURAGED KENNY TO GET TO A DOCTOR IF YOU’RE ASLEEP WITH A BAT IN THE ROOM. YOU DON’T FEEL ABOUT BITE NECESSARILY AND THEIR SALIVA CARRIES THE RABIES THREE DAYS LATER. THE BAT WAS BACK THIS TIME NHS CAUGHT IT AND THE KENNY’S SENT IT TO BE TESTED FOR RABIES WHILE SHE WAITED. SHE GOT THE RABIES VACCINE. SO TO BE SAFE AND SINCE BATS IN THE STATE OF NEBRASKA HAD TESTED POSITIVE. HE SAID I NEED FOR YOU TO GO GET THE SHOTS. KENNY SAYS THE TEST CAME BACK NEGATIVE FOR RABIES IN THE BACK. ALL BUT TWO OF THE REQUIRED DOSE HAS THEN THE SHOCK CAME. WE GOT A BILL THIS WEEKEND FROM HER INSURANCE COMPANY AND JUST MY VERY FIRST SET OF SHOTS WAS $12,000. KENNY SAYS, SHE STILL HAS A BILL COMING FOR HER FOR REMAINING DOSES AND SAYS INSURANCE DOESN’T COVER RABIES VACCINES. MY ALARM WAS THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE HAD THIS AND THEIR INSURANCE IS NOT COVERED IT AND THEY’VE HAD TO TAKE A LOAN OUT TO GET A SHOT FOR SOMETHING THAT IS FAKE. HANG UP HER HOUSE WITH THE HELP OF THE BATMEN THE COMPANY KEEPS BATS OUT AND THEY SAY THEY’RE SEEING MORE OF THEM RIGHT NOW BECAUSE OF ALL THE RAIN DATING BACK TO MARCH THE BAT POPULATION IS THRIVING BECAUSE THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF FOOD FOR THEM. THEY EAT THEIR WEIGHT EVERY NIGHT BUGS MOSTLY MOSQUITOES. HE STRESSES THAT THE RABIES SHOTS ARE NOT PAINFUL AND RHOWARD SAYS THE BATS CAN GET INTO HOLES THE SIZE OF A DIME. SO IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO GET Y

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State health officials are warning about a rash of animals testing positive for rabies.Fifteen animals tested positive so far in 2019, compared to 22 cases in all of 2018.Experts in Omaha said they're seeing more bats than usual.Of the 15 animals that tested positive, 12 were bats. The Nebraska Humane Society said five of them were in the metro.With those positive cases, experts are urging caution if you encounter a bat and be ready to get the shot if you're exposed. One woman said that shot comes with a high price tag.“I thought it was sprinkling,” Julie Kenney said.Kenney had gone to bed and thought she heard rain. “I woke up in the middle of the night. I don’t know if I felt the wind, but I looked up and it is, a bat, is flying over me just that way, this way,” Kenney said.She and her husband couldn't catch the bat, so they called the Nebraska Humane Society.NHS staff didn't find it. Doctors encouraged Kenney to get the rabies vaccine.“If you’re asleep in the room with a bat, you don’t feel a bat bite necessarily, and their saliva carries the rabies,” Kenney said.Three days later, the bat was back. This time, NHS caught it and the Kenneys sent it in to be tested for rabies. While she waited, Julie Kenney got the shots.“So, to be safe, and since bats in the state of Nebraska, had tested positive he said I need for you to go get the shots,” Kenney said.Kenney said the test came back negative for rabies in the bat, but only after she'd had all but two of the required doses of the rabies vaccine. Then, the shock came.“We got a bill this weekend from our insurance company and just my very first set of shots was $12,000,” Kenney said.Kenney said she still has a bill coming for her four remaining doses and said her insurance may not cover rabies vaccines. She adds that a the cost of the Immunoglobulin, which is given before the rabies vaccines, makes up the majority of the initial bill.“My alarm was (in) the number of people who have had this, and their insurance doesn’t cover it, and they have to take a loan out to get shots for something that's fatal if you don’t get treatment,” Kenney said.She said she may try to negotiate with her insurance company, to get it to cover part of the cost.Kenney is sealing up her house with the help of The Batmen, a company that specializes in preventing bats from getting into homes.They said that August is often when babies begin to leave homes and often make their way into where people live, instead of holes usually found in higher places in a house.The Batmen said they're seeing more bats right now because of all the rain dating back to March.“The bat population is thriving because there is no shortage in food, they eat their weight in bugs every night, mostly mosquitoes,” Jason Roewert, with The Batmen said.Kenney said the rabies shots are not painful and could mean the difference between life and death. She also said she will negotiate with her insurance company, something she said her doctor encouraged her to do.Roewert said that bats can get into holes the size of a dime, so it's a good idea to get your house checked before winter. He said that’s when the bats are looking for a warm place to spend the colder months. To contact The Batmen, call Joe at 402-213-9853.