What better story to talk about on a Friday the 13th than a country being attacked by vampire bats? In Urakusu, Peru, hundreds of people have been exposed to rabies through a plague of vampire bats,

Officials in Peru believe up to 500 people in the Peruvian Amazon have been exposed to rabies thanks to vampire bat attacks, and no telling how many of those 500 are on their way to becoming a foaming-at-the-mouth special edition of Dracula.  Vampire bats are infamous for the way they feed off blood, unlike normal adorable bats.

According to PopFi, the increase in bats could be due to deforestation, cold weather, or just the unstopped spread of the disease.  Ew.  It’s kind of like those movies you watch where you know there’s a bad guy in the house.  Instead of running fast and far, the “victim” tiptoes around the house with just a candlestick for protection.  Me?  I’d be running fast and far from Peru right now… at least until the vampire bats were better under control!

Photo by the biella via flickr creative commons.