A Bryant Middle School art teacher in southern California died of rabies after being bitten by a bat in her classroom. Leah Seneng, who noticed the bat in mid-October, tried to remove it humanely but was bitten when the animal became active.

Seneng had tried to save a bat she found lying in her classroom at Bryant Middle School in Dos Palos last month.

"I don't know if she thought it was dead or what," Laura Splotch, a friend of the victim Leah Seneng, told KFSN

A California teacher has reportedly died of rabies after she was bitten by a bat she found in her classroom. Fresno County has confirmed one of its residents passed away from the disease after a suspected bat bite, but declined to identify the victim.

The teacher was reportedly trying to scoop the bat up to get it out of her classroom when it woke up and bit her.

Rabies is a fatal illness caused by a virus that attacks the nervous system, leading to central nervous system disease and, without timely medical intervention, death.

A woman from California dies after getting bitten by a bat in the classroom while she was trying to scoop it up and put it outside safely.

Leah Seneng, a 60-year-old Dos Palos middle school art teacher, was bitten by a "rabid bat" when she tried to pick it up and release it outside the classroom.

Health officials are warning Californians of the dangers associated with handling wild animals after a Central Valley art teacher was bitten by a bat inside her classroom and later died of rabies. The woman died late last week,

Although extremely rare, a Central California teacher has died of rabies after a wild bat bit her in a middle school classroom. The 60-year-old Fresno woman, Leah Seneng, found what appeared to be a lifeless bat while she was teaching her Byrant Middle School students back in October.