White-nose Syndrome

WNS Latest Executive Director, Nina Fascione, clarifies BCI’s position on cave closures. In response to questions about Bat Conservation International’s support of temporary cave closures by the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Region, BCI Executive Director Nina Fascione said: “BCI is still promoting targeted cave closures rather than blanket closures as a general policy (per our position statement of February 16, 2010), but we also accept the reality that agencies must sometimes make management decisions for resources, even though their data are incomplete. In such cases, an abundance of caution can be justified when the stakes are as high as they are with White-nose Syndrome. We understand that cave closures can impact cavers and other users, but we hope everyone can work together to achieve our common goal of stopping this devastating disease so we won’t have to face such challenging decisions in the future." + click to expand Bat Biologists’ Worst Fears Validated By New Study: New research forecasts regional extinctions within two decades for one of our most common bat species, the little brown myotis, because of White-nose Syndrome. Read press releases from BCI and Boston University. WNS fungus recently discovered on a new species in Virginia, the southeastern myotis. WNS fungus found in western Oklahoma on a new species - the cave myotis. Read BCI’s press release here. WNS-associated fungus detected on federally endangered gray bats in Missouri. Read press release here. View - BCI’s Position Statement on cave closures and White-nose Syndrome.

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White-nose Syndrome has devastated bat populations across the eastern United States during the past four years, causing “the most precipitous wildlife decline in the past century in North America,” according to biologists. And this relentless disease keeps spreading into new areas. BCI is working with agencies, organizations and individuals to understand and stop WNS and begin restoring these decimated bat populations.

Since White-nose Syndrome was discovered in a single New York cave in February 2006, more than a million hibernating bats of nine species have been killed by the disease in fourteen states.

Named for a cold-loving white fungus typically found on the faces and wings of infected bats, White-nose Syndrome causes bats to awaken more often during hibernation and use up the stored fat reserves that are needed to get them through the winter. Infected bats often emerge too soon from hibernation and are often seen flying around in midwinter. These bats usually freeze or starve to death.

Mortality rates approaching 100 percent are reported at some sites. White-nose Syndrome has now moved into Canada, Maryland, Tennessee and Missouri. It threatens some of the largest hibernation caves for endangered Indiana myotis, gray myotis, and Virginia big-eared bats. Ultimately, bats across North America are at imminent risk.