McHenry County, Illinois
Wildlife in a McHenry County home? Here's who handles what.
McHenry County Animal Control handles sick or injured animals and bat exposures, not healthy animals living in your house. For a raccoon in the attic or bats in the eaves, you need a licensed nuisance wildlife operator. Our advertiser, AquaText Inc., is an IDNR-permitted operator that takes calls from McHenry County homes.
What does McHenry County Animal Control handle?
| Situation | Who to call |
|---|---|
| A sick or injured wild animal, or one posing an immediate public health threat | McHenry County Animal Control |
| A possible bat exposure | McHenry County Animal Control, 815-459-6222 |
| Questions about exposure risk | McHenry County Department of Health, Communicable Disease Program, 815-334-4500 |
| A healthy animal living in your house, attic, chimney or under the deck | A licensed nuisance wildlife operator |
McHenry County Animal Control and Adoption Center, 100 N. Virginia Street, Crystal Lake.
Why bats matter here
In May 2026 the county health department reported the season's first rabid bat with a human exposure, found inside a McHenry County home. Most bats don't carry rabies, but bats are the main source in Illinois. If a bat was in a room where someone was asleep, keep it and call the county. For a colony in the attic, see bats in the house.
The state's table shows 8 rabid bats in McHenry County in 2023, and 2 or 3 in every other year since 2021, including 3 so far in 2026.
| Year | McHenry County | All of Illinois |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 to Oct. 21 | 3 | 76 |
| 2025 | 2 | 48 |
| 2024 | 3 | 57 |
| 2023 | 8 | 83 |
| 2022 | 2 | 61 |
| 2021 | 2 | 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 the count doesn't tell you how many rabid bats are around here. 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).
What else is common in McHenry County homes?
Raccoons, with fall counts close to 100 per square mile recorded in parts of McHenry and Kane County, plus squirrels in attics, skunks under decks and birds in vents.
Which McHenry County towns does this guide cover?
- Crystal Lake
- Lake in the Hills
- Cary
- McHenry
- Woodstock
- Marengo
- Harvard
- Huntley (McHenry part)
- Algonquin (McHenry part)
Questions people ask
Will McHenry County Animal Control remove an animal from my house?
Not a healthy one. McHenry County Animal Control says it isn't able to disturb healthy wildlife and only deals with wild animals that are sick or injured or pose an immediate public health threat, such as a bat exposure. A wildlife removal service handles the rest.
Have rabid bats been found in McHenry County?
Yes. In May 2026 the McHenry County Department of Health reported the first rabid bat of the season with a human exposure, found inside a McHenry County home. Bats are the main source of rabies in Illinois.
Which McHenry County towns does this guide cover?
All of McHenry County, including Crystal Lake, Lake in the Hills, Cary, McHenry, Woodstock, Marengo, Harvard and the McHenry County parts of Huntley and Algonquin. This site's advertiser, AquaText Inc., takes calls from McHenry County homes.
Also: Kane County · Northwest Cook County · DeKalb County · about this site