Bat issues: White Nose Syndrome

I love the bats around here. What is a shame is that there is a disease that threatens them: White Nose Syndrome (WNS).

This is an old photo of a bat, in summer, whom I surprised in the car port. I was out there summoning recalcitrant cats. A nightly task!

Bats are a big deal in Muskoka. That proverbial cycle of life: bats eat night-flying bugs (800,000 gm /summer), a Muskoka scourge, and bring important nutrients to be accessed to similar cave dwellers, newts, and specific, endangered cave dwellers.

From My Muskoka

The headlines frighten me.

Bat killer moves into Ontario (Tor Star)
Mysterious fungus decimated U.S. bat populations
A lethal fungus that decimated populations of the winged critters in the Northeastern U.S. was discovered in Ontario last month, and researchers fear it will have the same devastating effect here.
 25,000 Indiana bats dead

400,000 dead bats in the US
The fungus gives them the appearance of a white nose, and wakes them early from hibernation. Of course, the bats cannot find the moths, fireflies, mosquitoes upon which they depend. They become dehydrated, underweight, fly about in daytime, trying to drink the snow, in extremely cold temperatures. It is very sad to watch.

	White-Nose Syndrome in Bats 5 min - 17 Mar 2008  US Fish & Wildlife Service

I hope they figure it out. We have bats everywhere. These I found in our old stove, in 2005. They had crawled in through the failing stove pipe. One died, the other flew away.

Bats (bless 'em!)  eat up to three times their body weight in a night. Go, bats, go! The disease was found at an abandoned mine, according to The Star, in a hibernacula (place of hibernation) in Bancroft/Minden, west of Ottawa. The fungus is also in Peterborough, Hasting, Grey, Renfrew counties and Kirkland Lake.

The disease kills between 80 and 99% of the bats, according to US scientists where White Nose Syndrome has spread to 11 states. Until now, the disease has appeared only in caves along the northeastern seaboard from Vermont to Virginia, three years ago. Most Tennessee caves were closed to visitors last spring to try to prevent WNS from reaching the state's bats. Vermont has lost at least 95 percent of its bats since WNS revealed its deadly presence. The National Geographic wisely warns us not to touch dead bats, in fact anything dead, since you do not know what has caused its death. Researchers are trying to determine if the fungus is the killer, or simply a symptom of another disease.

This video shows the bats flying about, crawling helplessly in snow, and close-ups of their little noses, and explains more, in a 2009 video.

The Battle for Bats: White Nose Syndrome 9 min - 10 Aug 2009 www.dailymotion.com

In future years, they predict, there will be a die-off of the Little Brown Bat. I tried, hopelessly (day turns to bat night), to videotape my bats. I shall endeavour this summer but hope WNS doesn't creep up to Muskoka.

Deadly Bat Fungus Spreading in U.S.   16 Feb 2010 ... White-nose syndrome, which appears in hibernating bats, has been linked to a cold-loving fungus found on the wings, ears, and muzzles of bats.