A local bat remover has taken the habit of appearing in public donned in a Batman costume and driving his own Batmobile, a Chrysler Prowler fitted with bat emblems. Even his office, appropriately called the Bat Cave 1, has the "Batman" TV show theme playing for callers on hold.

Bats are the top cause of human rabies in the U.S. have taken to staying in attics of the town's Antebellum and Greek Revival mansions.

Residents can't kill the bats under Georgia law. Killing a bat can be mete up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

"This town is in bad shape. There are millions of bats. In one house alone, I estimated 10,000 in the attic," said Perkins, a 56-year-old former contractor who started his company, Batbusters, after a young woman died from rabies caused by a bat in the early 1990s.

Perkins eliminates bats by climbing up ladders armed with tubes of sealer and wire mesh to seal holes and construct one-way doors to let bats exit.

Rabies can kill animals and humans within 10 days, if they are not given anti-rabies shots.