Cathedral City woman wakes up with bat in room, potential bites on legs

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CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. - A woman in Cathedral City was treated at the hospital Wednesday after she thought she may have been bitten by a bat while she slept. 

Riverside County Animal Services were called out around 2 p.m. Wednesday after a woman called saying she found a bat in her room when she woke up. The woman wasn't identified but said when she woke up the bat landed on her chest. 

She said she thought it was her dog, and shooed it away twice before realizing it was in fact a bat. The woman also told Animal Services that after she woke up she noticed her legs were covered with red marks that looked "similar to ant bites" according to the department. 

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A neighbor came to help the woman, and by the time Animal Services got to the scene, the bat had been contained to the bathroom. Officer Eric Espejo impounded the bat, and the animal has been taken to a Riverside County lab for testing. 

While it's unclear whether the bat had rabies, such tests are standard whenever a person has made contact with a bat. The woman was also treated for rabies as a precautionary measure.