Bats still dyin' off...
Study Documents Unprecedented Bat Die-Off
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011 : WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME: Biologists characterize species loss as unprecedented
Study Documents Unprecedented Bat Die-Off
WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2011 : WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME: Biologists characterize species loss as unprecedented
Enclosed in a tent of netting, four pairs of hands gripped bats out of the air, like dollar bills in the fair's cash booth. Biologists from Fort Drum and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services were collecting and tagging little brown bats from a bat box on post. The information collected from Tuesday night's tagging will be used to get an estimate of bat populations and about white-nose syndrome. White-nose syndrome, a white fungus that collects on the noses and wings of hibernating bats, has killed more than 1 million cave-hibernating bats in the state since it was first discovered near Albany in 2006. Since then, the fungal disease has spread to other states and several provinces in Canada.
Robyn A. Niver, endangered species biologist for the U.S., said Tuesday's tagging was her first bat sighting of the season. "We're here to help Fort Drum with a research project looking at little brown bats and the effects of white-nose syndrome on them," she said. We're living a huge environmental experiment right now. We've never witnessed widespread losses of animals like this ever in our lifetimes." The information gathered, Ms. Niver said, will also be used to help the U.S. make a final decision on whether the eastern small-footed and northern long-eared bats warrant additional protection under the Endangered Species Act. If the species receive federal protection, they will also gain protection from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Carl J. Herzog, DEC wildlife biologist in Albany, said because of the state's drastic decline in bat numbers, DEC was able to supply the service with information that supports the request to add these species to the endangered list. "We were among the key suppliers for information to help them determine that these species should be placed on the list for additional protection," Mr. Herzog said. "We're really ground zero for white-nose syndrome. The numbers we gave the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are figured very highly in the mix." The service is conducting a more thorough review to determine whether the bats should be added to the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife. A decision is expected sometime in late summer.
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