Kane County, Illinois

Wildlife in a Kane County home? Here's who handles what.

In Kane County, county animal control handles bites, bat exposures and sick animals. A healthy raccoon, squirrel or bat colony living in your house is a job for a licensed nuisance wildlife operator. Our advertiser, AquaText Inc., is an IDNR-permitted operator based right here in Kane County.

What does Kane County Animal Control handle?

Situation	Who to call
Dog or cat bite follow-up, rabies registration, stray pets	Kane County Animal Control
A bat found near someone sleeping, an infant, or a person or pet who may have been exposed	Kane County Animal Control picks it up for testing
A possibly rabid animal in town	Local police or animal control; in unincorporated areas, Kane County Animal Control
A wild animal living in your house or on your property	A licensed nuisance wildlife operator
A bat colony in the attic	A licensed operator. The county doesn't remove bats from attics

Kane County Animal Control, 4060 Keslinger Road, Geneva: 630-232-3555.

What's common in Kane County homes?

Wildlife Illinois reports fall counts close to 100 raccoons per square mile in parts of Kane and McHenry County. Other common problems: squirrels in the attic, bats, skunks under decks and starlings in vents.

How many rabid bats has the state recorded in Kane County?

One so far in 2026 and none listed for 2025, after two or three a year from 2021 to 2024. Kane County Animal Control sent 64 animal specimens for rabies testing in 2025, and all came back negative (Kane County Health Department).

Year	Kane County	All of Illinois
2026 to Oct. 21	1	76
2025	None listed	48
2024	2	57
2023	2	83
2022	3	61
2021	3	40

Source: Illinois Department of Public Health. County counts and the 2026 Illinois total come from its Rabies Surveillance Map, updated Oct. 21, 2026. Illinois totals for 2021 to 2025 come from its rabies summary of June 17, 2026 (PDF); the map's own bat totals for 2024 and 2025 are lower, at 56 and 42.

These are bats people found and turned in for testing that came back positive, so a low count or "None listed" doesn't mean a county had no rabid bats. The table doesn't show how many were tested, but the state's year-end summary does for all of Illinois: 48 of the 1,601 bats tested in 2025 were positive, about 3 percent. An Illinois Natural History Survey mammalogist calls bats turned in for testing "a biased sample" and says fewer than 1 percent of bats in the wild are thought to test positive (The Daily Illini, Oct. 2026).

In September, with 61 positives on the state's map, the state said bat submissions and rabies calls were higher than normal for the time of year, but that the numbers weren't alarming (NBC 5, Sept. 16, 2026). The state also says rabid bats can be found anywhere in Illinois, that only a lab test can tell, and that a bat in a home or any contact with one should be reported to the local health department (IDPH). In Kane County that's the Kane County Health Department, (630) 208-3801.

Which Kane County towns does this guide cover?

Questions people ask

Does Kane County Animal Control remove wildlife from houses?

Generally no. Kane County Animal Control says that if a wild animal is trapped somewhere in your house or on your property, you must contact a licensed nuisance wildlife removal service. It does pick up a bat found near someone sleeping, an infant, or another person who may have been exposed.

Which Kane County towns does this guide cover?

All of Kane County, including Hampshire, Pingree Grove, Gilberts, Elgin, South Elgin, Carpentersville, St. Charles, Geneva, Batavia, Aurora, and the Kane County parts of Huntley and Algonquin. This site's advertiser, AquaText Inc., is based in Kane County.

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