Reprinted from a March 2, 2008 column in the Morgantown Dominion Post
Last year I wrote a column about new diseases popping up all over the globe, infecting all kinds of animals. Diseases such as chronic wasting disease that has played havoc with our deer and elk. Then there was West Nile Virus that devastated our bird populations and killed humans.
One of the reasons scientists feel that these new diseases are occurring is because man continues to play around with the environment, and not in a good way. The old saying, "its not nice to fool with Mother Nature" may well apply in these situations. In that column I predicted that in the next few years we will see many new diseases pop up. That’s a no brainer. It’s like predicting that the Mountaineers will win a football game next year. Yea, Dave, we just might win a game or two.
In the past month a new disease has been discovered and this one has all the ear marks of a major disaster for bats. The disease has been named, "white-nose syndrome" because of the white fungus found on the nose of bats and it is being dubbed as the largest lethal epidemic ever to hit bats. Biologists and cavers in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts are finding thousands of dead bats in caves. Apparently the disease was first found in four mines and caves near Albany, New York in the winter of 2007 when it killed around 10,000 bats. However, since relatively few caves and mines were checked in 2007, the toll may have been much higher.
Be that as it may, this year the disease is known to have spread to at least thirteen caves and mines in New York, two in Massachusetts and two in Vermont. Frankly it could be in many more caves, but we won’t know until spring because folks are being asked to stay out of caves.
Bat biologists and cavers everywhere are very concerned about this new disease, and no wonder. There are over 500,000 hibernating bats in those caves and the expected mortality could be very high. In fact reports from one cave in New York indicates a drop from 15,000 bats to 1,500. In a cave that had 1,400 bats in the winter of 2006, only 40 remain this winter. Something is obviously very wrong.
Not much is known about these bat mortalities. The fungus is common in nature and normally associated with plants. Is the white fungus killing the bats, or is it something else and the fungus is just associated with that? No one knows at this time but researchers are working over time to find out.
Meanwhile several species of bats are being killed by the disease. Most bats killed are the more common little brown bat, but one endangered species, the Indiana bat, has also been found. Indeed there is grave concern about this species, since one infected New York mine has half of the estimated 52,000 Indiana bats hibernating there. It is possible that all will die from this disease. It is also possible that some will survive and be immune to the disease. There is just a lot we do not know about this disease.
Bats hibernate and often cluster together by the thousands in caves or mines. This makes the transfer of whatever agent is killing them relatively easy. Several states (New York, New Jersey, and Vermont) have asked people to stay out of all caves until more is learned about how this disease spreads. The bat biologist in Vermont has cancelled all winter surveys there because he is concerned about spreading the disease. He will return after hibernation season to check all caves for mortalities and he will be wearing haz-mat clothing to avoid any contamination. Sounds pretty serious to me.
Cavers in all states surrounding New York are being asked to do several things. First, stay out of caves until more is learned about the disease. Second, if you have been to a cave and seen the white-nose syndrome (very easy to see on bats), then report that to your state wildlife agency and/or the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Upon exiting any cave (with or without bats) go thru a process of decontamination found on the www.fws.gov/norttheast/white_nose.html. web site. The Fish and Wildlife Service is also asking any cavers who have been to a New York or Vermont cave in the past year to decontaminate all clothing, boots, or gear they used on that caving event.
Bats have low reproductive rates and this means that any mortality can create major problems. This disease has not been found in West Virginia, but because bats migrate, the spread of any bat disease seems likely. It could be spread by soil on cavers boots. It could be spread by migrating bats. It could be spread by air currents. These are all questions that researchers are examining right now. Our DNR has put together a list of important bat caves and they are asking people to avoid them to minimize caving until we know how this disease is spread. Bats are an extremely important part of any ecosystem and I will keep you abreast as more is learned about this grave threat.
