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Ohio cities and counties

Who to Call About Wildlife in Your Ohio City

Three parties touch a wildlife problem in an Ohio house, and each handles one part: city animal control, the city or county health department, and a private operator. Which health department is yours depends on your address, so find your city or county in the table.

Call About an Animal in the Attic 614-767-5459 Tap to call

This site does no removal work. A request goes to an independent operator when one works at your address; where none does, it comes to Local Core Group, which runs the site. Send a request instead.

If a bat is loose inside, read the bat in the house page before anything else: whether anyone could have been exposed comes ahead of getting the bat out. Bats living in the roof are a different job, covered under a colony in the attic.

Health departments, by city and county

Addresses inside the City of Cincinnati

Cincinnati Health Department, Technical Environmental Services

  • 513-352-2922: Technical Environmental Services, to arrange bat testing or a drop-off and to report a bite, Monday to Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • 513-357-7462: to talk with a health care professional at the department about a possible rabies exposure and whether vaccination is needed.

A bat in the house: The department says a bat should be caught and euthanized so that a lab can test it for rabies if it had contact with anyone in the household, known bite or not, or if someone woke up with it in the room. It takes no live bats and sends residents to a private company to retrieve the bat; its office then arranges the testing by phone. No bat ships on a Friday, over a weekend or on the day before a holiday. The Cincinnati page has more.

Wildlife in the building: Cincinnati 311 takes reports of a raccoon or a bat in the lived-in part of a building. A health inspector follows up about possible rabies exposure and advises the property owner. The request page does not say the city removes the animals.

Source: Cincinnati Health Department, Animal Bites & Rabies - Health (read 2026-11-02); Cincinnati Health Department, Protocol for Submitting Bats for Rabies Testing (PDF) (read 2026-11-02); City of Cincinnati 311 / Cincinnati Health Department, Raccoons or Bats in Building - 311 (read 2026-11-02).

Hamilton County outside Cincinnati, Norwood and Springdale

Hamilton County Public Health

  • 513-946-7800: the department’s rabies line for reporting a bite; callers may leave a message, and the department says staff reply within one business day.
  • 513-946-7832: the county number that Cincinnati’s bat protocol gives for a bat collected outside the city limits.

A bat in the house: The department recommends capturing a bat for testing if you were asleep and then find one in the room, if it was in the room of a child left alone, or if it was close to someone who cannot say whether they were bitten. Norwood and Springdale are outside this department’s area, and this site has not researched who covers them.

Source: Hamilton County Public Health, Rabies & Animal Bites - Hamilton County Public Health (read 2026-11-02); Cincinnati Health Department, Protocol for Submitting Bats for Rabies Testing (PDF) (read 2026-11-02).

Addresses inside the City of Cleveland

Cleveland Department of Public Health

  • 216-664-3747: the health department, for anyone who has had contact with a bat and for questions about rabies medication; its pages list no hours for the line.
  • 216-664-3069: City of Cleveland Animal Care & Control, to report an animal bite or an injured wild animal.

A bat in the house: The department asks anyone who has had contact with a bat to call, even a person who cannot tell whether there was a bite or a scratch. The call covers how likely an exposure was and whether vaccination is needed. The Cleveland page has more.

Wildlife in the building: Animal Care & Control takes reports of injured wild animals and sends complaints about vacant properties that draw wildlife to 311. The division says it does not remove opossums.

Source: Cleveland Department of Public Health, Department of Public Health (CDPH) | City of Cleveland Ohio (read 2026-11-02); Cleveland Department of Public Health, Rabies | City of Cleveland Ohio (read 2026-11-02); Cleveland Department of Public Health, Report an Animal Bite | City of Cleveland Ohio (read 2026-11-02); City of Cleveland Division of Animal Care & Control, Wildlife Issues | City of Cleveland Ohio (read 2026-11-02).

Cuyahoga County outside the City of Cleveland, including Lakewood, Parma and Cleveland Heights

Cuyahoga County Board of Health

  • 216-201-2000: to report a bite, a scratch or a possible rabies exposure, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; the board lists the same number for after hours.

A bat in the house: The board counts three bat situations as possible rabies exposures with no known bite: waking up with a bat in the bedroom, a bat in the room of a child left alone, and touching a bat. It asks for bites, scratches and exposures to be reported to it inside a day. When it can, it sends a bat from an exposure case to the state laboratory for testing.

Source: Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Animal Bites and Rabies Prevention | CCBH (read 2026-11-02); Cuyahoga County Board of Health, Rabies Exposure Algorithm (Humans) (read 2026-11-02).

Toledo and the rest of Lucas County

Toledo-Lucas County Health Department

  • 419-213-4100, option 3: the department’s number as printed on its 2023 rabies brochure.
  • 419-213-4100, ext. 4: to report a bite from any animal that is not a dog, a cat or a ferret.

A bat in the house: For a bat in your room when you do not know whether you were exposed, the department’s 2023 brochure says to shut the windows and doors, keep the bat in the room, have a professional capture it and call the health department, which arranges rabies testing. The Toledo page has more.

Source: Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, Take the Bite Out of Rabies (brochure, 2023) (read 2026-11-02); Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, Animal Bites | Toledo Lucas County Health Department (read 2026-11-02); Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, Avoiding Possible Exposure to Rabies and Wild Animals (press release, 2018-05-23) (read 2026-11-02).

Akron and the rest of Summit County

Summit County Public Health

  • 330-926-5600: rabies advice from the department; on a weekend, leave a message and the call is returned.

A bat in the house: The department does not capture bats. Where there is any question that a person or a pet was exposed, it says to leave the bat where it is, have a nuisance animal trapper capture it, and contact the department as soon as you can about testing. The Akron page has more.

Source: Summit County Public Health, Rabies FAQs | Summit County Public Health (read 2026-11-02); Summit County Public Health, Rabies Prevention | Summit County Public Health (read 2026-11-02); Kent State University Center for Public Administration and College of Public Health, Consolidating Health Departments in Summit County, Ohio: A One Year Retrospective (2012) (read 2026-11-02).

Dayton, Kettering and the rest of Montgomery County

Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County

  • 937-225-4362: Rabies Control, weekdays 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 4:00 p.m.
  • 937-225-5700: the department’s general line for reporting a public health emergency at any hour; it is not a rabies line.

A bat in the house: The department asks residents to report a bat that gets into the house. If the bat could have reached a room where a person was asleep, the department says it should be tested for rabies.

Source: Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County, Rabies Control (read 2026-11-02).

Upper Arlington, Westerville, Dublin and the townships and villages of Franklin County (Columbus is not on this department’s list)

Franklin County Public Health

  • 614-525-3160: the department’s rabies and animal bite contact, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; the department lists the same number for weekends, holidays and after hours.

A bat in the house: The department says anyone who believes they were exposed to a bat should contact it and their doctor. It also investigates bites from wild animals. This site has not confirmed which department covers any part of Westerville or Dublin that lies outside Franklin County.

Source: Franklin County Public Health, About - Franklin County Public Health (read 2026-11-02); Franklin County Public Health, Animal Bites, Quarantine and Rabies Tags (read 2026-11-02); Franklin County Public Health, Contact - Franklin County Public Health (read 2026-11-02).

Addresses inside the City of Youngstown

Youngstown City Health District, Environmental Health Division

  • 330-743-3333: the city health district number that Mahoning County Public Health’s July 2026 release gives for reporting a sick or dead raccoon, skunk or fox found in the city.

A bat in the house: The division says a dead bat may be picked up for rabies testing, decided case by case.

Wildlife in the building: The division does not trap raccoons or groundhogs and says city code gives it no authority to enter a private home. It keeps a list of private nuisance trappers.

Source: Youngstown City Health District, Health - City of Youngstown, Ohio (read 2026-11-02); Youngstown City Health District, Environmental Health Division, Environmental Health Division - City of Youngstown, Ohio (read 2026-11-02); Youngstown City Health District, Animal Nuisance Trappers (2026 list, PDF) (read 2026-11-02); Mahoning County Public Health, Bat Collected in Mahoning County Tests Positive for Rabies (press release, 2026-07-24) (read 2026-11-02).

Mahoning County communities outside Youngstown

Mahoning County Public Health

  • 330-270-2855, menu selection 2: the number the department’s July 2026 release gives for reporting a sick or dead raccoon, skunk or fox found outside Youngstown.

A bat in the house: The department’s July 2026 release says a bat found inside a home should be reported to the local health department, which gives the next steps. The department sends a bat for testing only when a person is considered exposed.

Source: Mahoning County Public Health, Bat Collected in Mahoning County Tests Positive for Rabies (press release, 2026-07-24) (read 2026-11-02).

Trumbull County addresses in the Trumbull County Combined Health District

Trumbull County Combined Health District

A bat in the house: Where a bat is in the home and exposure cannot be ruled out, the district says to leave the bat alone and get help from an animal control agency or a public health agency. It says to get medical advice and have the bat tested if you wake up with a bat in the room, or if one is found with a child left alone or with a person who is impaired. The district adds that seeing a bat in an attic, or at a distance, does not give a person rabies.

Source: Trumbull County Combined Health District, What is Rabies (read 2026-11-02).

Sources for this table

Each link opens the page a fact on this page came from, with the date it was read. Agency pages change; the date shows which version this site saw.

City pages

Bats and Raccoons Inside a Cincinnati Home

The city health department arranges bat testing but takes no live bats, and 311 logs raccoons or bats indoors. What each office does, and who does the capture.

Read the Cincinnati page →

A Bat in a Cleveland House and Who You Call

Cleveland has its own health department, apart from the county board. The bat-contact line, the bite line, and what city animal control handles.

Read the Cleveland page →

A Bat in a Toledo Bedroom and the Lucas County Steps

The county health department’s steps for a bat in the bedroom: keep it in the room, have it captured, call to arrange testing. One district, two phone options.

Read the Toledo page →

Bat Removal in Akron and What Summit County Public Health Does

Summit County Public Health says in writing that it does not capture bats. Who captures one in an Akron house, who arranges testing, and the county rabies line.

Read the Akron page →

If your city is not in the table, a health department still takes the question: the CDC says to contact yours after a possible rabies exposure. Its number is on its own website. A call to the referral line is handled the same way from any Ohio address: the request goes to an independent operator when one works there, and where none does it comes to Local Core Group, which runs this site.

Talk it through by phone

Say what you hear, which part of the house it comes from, and your ZIP code. The request goes to an independent wildlife operator when one works at that address, and the visit is arranged between the two of you. Where none does, the call comes to Local Core Group, which runs this site.

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