New Hampshire man being treated for rabies after bite from bat

SOUTH HAMPTON, N.H. — A man is undergoing rabies treatment after being suddenly bitten by a bat while he was trying to use his iPad.

Roy Syvertson still doesn’t know how the bat snuck inside his home and made its way right into his lap. He’s since looked through every corner of the house to make sure there aren't any more.

"I was just dumbfounded," he said. "There was no way he could be in there, but he was."

The uninvited critter ended up wedged into Syverston's iPad – something that he had been holding in his lap for an entire hour.

The 86-year-old admits it's almost too freaky to be true, but he has the pictures and the first-hand experience to prove it.

Syvertson says the hidden surprise revealed itself as he was about to close the electronic device.

He kept it contained between the front cover and back of the iPad.

"I was able to squeeze this real hard and he didn’t try to come out any more than that," he said.

Syvertson hurried outside his South Hampton home to release the creature back into the wild. "I stuck him on that corner of the bricks and he hung on it quite nice with his little hooks."

The next morning, it was dead.

"That’s when I knew I really had a problem," Syvertson said.

The New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game agreed and encouraged him to get treated for possible rabies exposure.

It's a good thing he did because officials say the bat has since tested positive for rabies.

"There may be another one lurking around here, don't know!" said Syvertson. "Sometimes if you have bad luck you can get struck by lightning a second time."

Syvertson has received three out of four rabies shots and tells Boston 25 News it's not so much the needles he’s bothered by, but rather the paranoia this has caused.

"When I open up my cereal box I don’t want to pour a bat out," he said. "When I open the refrigerator, I look in there. Maybe I am getting a little paranoid.

"He couldn't come from anywhere, who knows."

Cox Media Group