Family driven out of Georgia home by colony of bats

Feb. 1 (UPI) -- A Georgia family said they had to evacuate their home when it became infested by a colony of bats.

Monica and Isaiah Grant moved from Chicago to the rental home in Savannah's Ardsley Park neighborhood less than a year ago, and they encountered their first bat Jan. 18.

"We're like, Savannah has many bats, so it's fine. Nothing's wrong," Monica Grant told the Savannah Morning News.

Grant said several more bat encounters occurred in the ensuing days, and the family soon discovered the house was infested with the flying animals.

"No one expects this, like I have never even seen a bat except for at the zoo," Monica Grant told WTOC-TV. "And there was another one in the vent and that's when we were like I'm done, I can't do this anymore, something is seriously wrong with this house."

Grant said exterminators who viewed the home told her the situation is "worse than anything they have ever seen."

The couple and their two children, ages 2 and eight months, are now staying with a neighbor and have received rabies shots on the recommendation of the Coastal Health District. They are attempting to raise money for relocation costs.

The City of Savannah issued a code ordinance violation and posted it to the property. A city spokesperson said code enforcement officials are working together with the landlord to try to resolve the bat issue.