Bat Removal Superior, CO

Who handles a bat in Superior

Unlike Louisville or Lafayette next door, the Town of Superior does not have its own police animal control. It is one of the communities served by the Boulder County Sheriff's Animal Protection Unit, along with Lyons, Nederland, Ward and unincorporated Boulder County.

• Possible contact with a person or pet, or a bat in a room where someone slept: Boulder County Public Health, 303-441-1564. BCPH says to put a container over a bat that has touched a person or pet and call dispatch so animal control can collect it for testing.
• Animal Protection Unit: Boulder County Communications, 303-441-4444. The county says officers respond to emergency or in-progress wildlife calls, such as an obviously sick animal, and refer follow-up to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
• Wildlife questions: CPW, which Boulder County lists at 303-297-1192. For a wild animal you have found, the county suggests calling Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center at 303-823-8455 for advice before picking it up.

Boulder County's Animal Protection page is direct about bats and other animals living in a house: for nuisance wildlife in an attic, it points residents to humane eviction and exclusion methods. That is the work we do.

Rabies in Boulder County

BCPH reports that seven bats tested positive for rabies in Boulder County in 2025, and its weekly reports for 2026 show bats making up nearly all of the animals sent for testing. When a rabid bat turned up on a Boulder deck in May 2025, the county noted that about 15% of bats tested in Colorado are positive and that bat bites can leave punctures too small to see. Its advice is the same for Superior as anywhere else in the county: never touch a bat, and call BCPH if there is any chance of contact. Our guide to finding a bat in your house covers what to do in the meantime.

What researchers have found in Boulder County

A University of Northern Colorado team has studied bats on Boulder County open space for years. Their 2020 report describes a significant find from 2017: a female tricolored bat with two pups along South Boulder Creek, the first evidence that this species, hit hard by white-nose syndrome in the eastern U.S., now breeds in Colorado. The same team recorded bat activity in every month from November 2019 through May 2020 at Ingersol Quarry, evidence that some bats spend the winter locally rather than leaving the area.

The bat Superior homeowners are most likely to meet is the big brown bat, the most common species at the county's eastern survey sites and the one most often found in Colorado buildings. CPW lists Boulder County among the counties with confirmed white-nose syndrome (Boulder, Douglas, El Paso, Grand, Jefferson, Larimer, Otero, Routt, Teller and Weld), so exclusion should let every bat leave unharmed.

Superior homes: Rock Creek, townhomes and Marshall Fire rebuilds

The town says Superior was founded in 1896, incorporated in 1904 and named for the quality of its coal. After the Industrial Mine closed in 1945 the population hovered around 250. Rock Creek Ranch, now the town's largest development, changed that. The Census Bureau estimates Superior had 13,654 residents in 2024.

That history shows in the housing. Only 4% of Superior's 5,267 housing units predate 1980, and the median was built in 1997 (ACS 2024 5-year). About 58% are single-family detached houses, and much of the rest is townhomes and small condo buildings; 39% of homes are rented. On 1990s and 2000s homes the usual bat entry points are gaps where siding meets the soffit, loose ridge-vent end caps, and the joints where a garage roof or bump-out meets the main wall. In attached townhomes, a colony can move along a shared attic, so we look at the whole building, not one unit.

The Marshall Fire destroyed 378 homes in Superior on December 30, 2021, according to Boulder County's January 2022 assessment. Rebuilt homes are tighter than what they replaced, but they still have roof and gable vents, and we check them the same way.

Superior's wildlife programs

The town runs a volunteer Wildlife Monitoring Program, which documents coyotes, foxes, bobcats, deer, elk, beaver, raccoons, muskrats and skunks, and a Raptor Monitoring Program for nesting birds of prey. The town's open space and trail network is also feeding ground for bats on summer nights. A bat needs a gap only about the width of a thumb, and the Colorado Bat Working Group warns that blocking the main exit while bats are inside pushes them toward the next opening, sometimes into the house.

When bat exclusion can happen in Superior

Colorado Parks and Wildlife asks property owners to avoid sealing bats out of buildings during pupping season, June through August. The Colorado Bat Working Group gives a slightly longer window (June to mid-August) and asks a simple question first: can the work wait until the maternity colony disperses in autumn? At the Boulder station, about seven miles northwest, the average November low is about 28°F, so fall is the natural time to seal up.

In Superior, NOAA normals for the Boulder station put the average low at 50°F or warmer in Jun–Aug, the stretch when insects, and therefore bats, are most active. That lines up with the state window. We use those months for inspection and night exit counts. One-way doors go up after the pups can fly, and stay up for the 5–10 nights the Working Group recommends before the last gaps are sealed.

Superior at a glance

• Housing units: 5,267 (median year built 1997)
• Built before 1980: 4%; built 2010 or later: 12%
• Single-family detached: 58%; buildings with 10+ units: 9%
• Renter-occupied homes: 39%
• Average January low: 22°F; average July high: 88°F
• Months with an average low of 50°F or warmer: Jun–Aug

Housing figures: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (tables B25024, B25034, B25035, B25003) via Census Reporter. Climate: NOAA 1991–2020 normals, Boulder station.

Common questions

Nearby city guides

• Louisville
• Broomfield
• Boulder
• Lafayette
• Westminster

Sources

1. Boulder County Sheriff: Animal Protection Unit (unincorporated county, Lyons, Nederland, Superior and Ward; 303-441-4444)
2. Boulder County: Bat found in Boulder County tested positive for rabies (May 23, 2025; BCPH 303-441-1564)
3. Boulder County Public Health: Animal-borne disease (vector control) weekly reporting
4. Town of Superior: About us (founded 1896, Industrial Mine closed 1945, Rock Creek Ranch)
5. Town of Superior: Superior wildlife (Wildlife and Raptor Monitoring Programs)
6. U.S. Census Bureau: City and town population estimates, Vintage 2024 (SUB-EST2024)
7. Boulder County: Updated list of structures damaged and destroyed in the Marshall Fire (Jan. 6, 2022)
8. Adams & Bevan, University of Northern Colorado: Report for continued surveys for bats on Boulder County Open Space (2018, PDF)
9. Adams, University of Northern Colorado: Seasonal altitudinal migrations, overwintering activity and continued surveys for bats on Boulder County Open Space (Dec. 2020, PDF)
10. Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Contact us (regional and area offices)
11. Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Living with Bats
12. Colorado Bat Working Group (CNHP, CSU): excluding bats from buildings
13. CDPHE: Colorado Rabies FAQ
14. Colorado Parks and Wildlife: Protect your home from wildlife
15. Census Reporter: Superior profile (ACS 2024 5-year)
16. NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 monthly normals (Boulder)