Corbin woman pleads for help after bats make home in her attic

A Corbin woman hasn’t enjoyed a quite night at home alone in months as she always has unwanted company.

Cathy Hinkle says over 100 endangered bats have taken up residence in the attic of her Gordon Hill home several months ago and she isn’t a bit happy about it.

Hinkle started noticing the bats this spring when their droppings started to collect on her back patio and she started smelling urine from the attic area.

She did what anyone would have done upon finding out there was a bat colony in her attic: she called the exterminator.
After the people at Cumberland Valley Extermination took a look at the situation, they informed Hinkle that the bats were endangered and they would not be able to exterminate and the bats would have to be relocated.

Hinkle didn’t know who to turn to for help.

"When you’re retired and on a fixed disability income, you don’t have the money to deal with this issue," Hinkle said.
She then got in touch with Clara Patterson, the administrative assistant to the city manager.

They started researching the topic and found a man known locally as the critter catcher. Ronnie Simpson, a state licensed small animal removal expert, is based in London, but travels all over the U.S. performing his services. According to Hinkle he is doing so for a very reasonable fee of $300, but that isn’t going to be the end of the costs she faces.

"I doesn’t fix the damage to the roof and the insulation or the cleanup that is going to be required," Hinkle said.

Hinkle hasn’t been in the attic to see how extensive the damage is because she if afraid to go in there herself. But she can see signs of damage through the urine and feces that leak through to the outside of the house and spill onto the ground around her home.

Also, areas of the roof are sagging she thinks is due to the weight of the feces build up.

Hinkle has to power wash every day to keep the droppings off the ground and the urine off the sides of the house. The paint has begun to wear away in some areas because of the power washing.

And that’s not all. The bats rip the insulation in the attic with their feet and bits of insulation can be seen.

On the inside of her house, you can see what looks like water damage in the corner of her living room ceiling that she says is from the bat’s urine leaking through.

At this point, Hinkle has found no financial help to solve the problem.

"This is not a simple $300 job. I need help," Hinkle said.

Hinkle, originally from Chicago, moved to Corbin in 1999 with her husband because it was his hometown. According to Hinkle, they bought the house on Gordon Hill and spent around $170,000 renovating the house to get it up to code. Shortly after the move, her husband died of cancer, but Hinkle still lives in Corbin in the house they bought. Hinkle said she cannot enjoy the house like she should be able to because of the bat’s feces which Hinkle was told is extremely poisonous to humans.

"I cannot grill out here or sit out here, I mean this is disgusting. I need to call on officials to help me take care of this," Hinkle said.

Hinkle said dusk is when the bats start to leave her attic and they return in the early morning hours.

"It’s so scary and creepy. Their bodies look like little mice," Hinkle said.

The removal process starts tomorrow, but she isn’t sure how long it will take to complete or exactly what they will find when they open the attic.