Gov. Locke Chases Bat From Official Master Bedroom

There are bats in the governor’s mansion.

When Gov. Gary Locke stumbled from bed in the wee hours Thursday to change his infant daughter’s diapers, he noticed a bat circling overhead in the master bedroom, a press spokeswoman said.

With wife, Mona, watching bleary eyed, the quick-thinking governor found a mop and chased the bat into the ballroom and shut the door.

This is not the first bat in the mansion. Spokeswoman Marylou Flynn said the Lockes trapped another bat Monday night in a third-floor room.

Deputy press secretary Carolyn Duncan said state workers would be called to take care of the bats.