VIDEO: Corbin woman with bats in the attic seeks relief

A Corbin woman, whose home has been invaded by over 100 brown bats, is finally hopeful that she will be rid of the noisy, annoying varmints by sometime in August or earlier September.

Cathy Hinkle lives in a house on Gordon Street that she’s spent a sizable fortune on to renovate, but she says the bats are ruining her efforts with their urine and feces, and well as causing some minor structural damage to the home.

Last week, the News Journal reported about her problem. Since, she has sought the help of an expert in removing nuisance animals from homes where ordinary pest exterminators cannot help.

Ronnie "The Critter Catcher" Simpson, of London, said he is confident the bats can be safely removed from the home within the next two months. Last week, he was at Hinkle’s residence sealing any potential entryways or exits for the bats except for a few. Hinkle now has the unenviable task of diligently counting the number of bats she sees flying out from the eaves of her house every night until she can get an accurate number.

"Once we get a good count, then I’ll install a one way door so they can leave but can’t get back in," he said. "Either that, or we will wait for them all to go out then seal the holes behind them."

Simpson said he has to be careful about cutting off access in the home to the bats. Bats are an endangered species in Kentucky and legally must be relocated and cannot be killed. Simpson said if the bats have had babies, then the babies need to be nurtured long enough so they can fly on their own.

"I don’t want to kill the bats. You can’t kill them. I love bats. We need them to get rid of bugs and things like that," Simpson said. "I’ve dealt with the same thing at some other places. They are a problem."

Hinkle moved to the area from Chicago in 1999 and said she has spent around $170,000 to refurbish the house and bring it up to code. She said the bats have been an annoying stumbling block in that effort.

"They are going to cost me a lot of money … money I don’t have," Hinkle said.

Simpson said he travels all over the state removing raccoons, skunks, bats and other critters from homes and businesses – animals normal exterminators won’t deal with. In late 2008, he was instrumental in capturing and removing a small family of raccoons from the offices of Tri-County Mortgage in downtown Corbin.