Bat-killin disease spreads

[Lee Borgersen]

   Bat-killing disease has spread across Minnesota, DNR says
 

By John Myers | Forum News Service
PUBLISHED: March 23, 2017 at 5:22 pm | UPDATED: March 24, 2017 at 8:02 am

  ..
White-nose syndrome has now killed bats in six counties in Minnesota, up from two last year, and probably has spread to virtually everywhere in Minnesota where bats spend their winters.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources confirmed the expansion of the fatal disease on Thursday.

The disease is being blamed for a more than 70 percent decline in bats at the Soudan Underground Mine during this winter’s annual survey of the state’s largest bat wintering area, called a hibernaculum, where white-nose syndrome was first confirmed in 2013.

The disease is causing thousands of bats to leave the idled iron ore mine in the heart of winter when they should be hibernating. The bats are dropping to the ground, dead from starvation or freezing to death.

Nearly 3,000 dead bats were found in just two weeks outside the mine in northern St. Louis County, DNR officials noted Thursday. Many more are believed to have died farther away.

The DNR said the disease has recently been confirmed in Becker, Dakota, Fillmore, Goodhue and Washington counties. The disease is also present in at least four other counties — Lake, Pine, Hennepin and Ramsey — but hasn’t yet been confirmed as killing bats there yet, said Ed Quinn, DNR Parks and Trails Division resource management supervisor.

While some locations are still testing negative, the results of recent surveys lead us to conclude that WNS is likely to be present anywhere bats hibernate in Minnesota,” Quinn said.

Officials said the disease is spreading and killing bats at about the rate as expected considering how devastating the disease has been in eastern states. At Mystery Cave in Fillmore County, no decrease in bats was seen this year. But experts expect to see a big decline next year because so many bats there have been seen with the disease.

In southeastern Minnesota, the bat population at Brightsdale Tunnel was down 39 percent from the most recent count and the count at Bat River Cave decreased 31 percent.

“Four of Minnesota’s bat species hibernate, and four species migrate,” Quinn noted. “WNS will have a substantial effect on Minnesota’s hibernating bat population. Neighboring states have reported declines of 70 to 95 percent in specific locations, as we recorded this year at Soudan Mine.”

FUNGAL GROWTH:
 
White-nose syndrome is named for the fuzzy white growth of fungus observed on the faces of infected bats. Infected bats show unusual behavior, such as flying during the day in summer or leaving caves during their usual winter hibernation, when no bugs are present for them to eat. A wildlife veterinarian at the University of Wisconsin confirmed the disease kills bats by causing their bodies to overheat, burning energy too quickly and at a time — in winter — when no insects are present to replace the lost calories and when it’s far too cold for the mammals to survive outside.

 
The disease is known to spread from bat-to-bat but also is believed to be spread by people who carry the disease on shoes or clothing as they tour different caves and mines. Despite that transmission possibility, however, the DNR continues to offer tours of both the  Soudan Underground Mine and Mystery Cave, where the DNR will continue to follow recommended national decontamination protocols. The DNR urges owners of private caves to take similar visitor precautions.

The disease last week was confirmed in Texas, now the 31st state to confirm the  fungus. It’s also in five Canadian provinces.

It was first discovered in New York in 2007 and has killed millions of bats, generally wiping out between 90 and 100 percent of bat populations in each area it spreads.

“We may possibly see that in some of our hibernating sites,” said Gerda Nordquist, a DNR bat expert. 


Scientists are working on fungicides to stop the disease and are studying why a few bats have returned to some infected areas and appear to be surviving. Bat experts said Thursday, however, that it’s too early to say if any bat recovery is taking place where the disease has hit.
Bats can live for 30 years but reproduce slowly, with generally one pup per year, so it will take decades to rebuild the populations, if they rebuild at all.

Bats are considered important for ecosystems because they eat so many insects and some species pollinate fruits and flowers. One Minnesota bat impacted by white-nose syndrome, the northern long eared bat, was given federal Endangered Species Act protection in 2015.

White nose syndrome is not known to impact any other species except bats.



In this Oct. 2008 photo provided by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation is a little brown bat with fungus on its nose in New York. Michigan and Wisconsin wildlife officials said Thursday, April 10, 2104 that tests have confirmed the presence of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats in the U.S. and Canada. The disease has now been confirmed in 25 states following today’s announcements in Michigan and Wisconsin. (AP Photo/New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Ryan von Linden)

 

Kiss Me!

[glenn57]

looks more like he got into some of rebs stash he lifted from kids on the street!!!!!!!!!!!! been thinkin of putting up some bat houses at home and up nort!!!!!!!!!!

[Rebel SS]

HEY!! Let's watch that, smurf-squirt! I am the crusher of crime!!! Super Reb!   

[Lee Borgersen]

looks more like he got into some of rebs stash he lifted from kids on the street!!!!!!!!!!!! been thinkin of putting up some bat houses at home and up nort!!!!!!!!!!

 
 Building bat houses now can aid bats that survive white-nose syndrome

See video below:

Contact(s): Heather Kaarakka. DNR conservation biologist, 608-266-2576

MADISON - People can help bats that survive white-nose syndrome this winter by building a bat house where they can raise their young during summer months.

"Bats surviving white-nose syndrome need all the help they can get to raise their young and help rebuild populations," said Heather Kaarakka, a Department of Natural Resources conservation biologist who works with Wisconsin's bat populations for the Natural Heritage Conservation Bureau.

For easy instructions and how-to videos, check out the Department of Natural Resources' bat house web pages at dnr.wi.gov, keyword "bat house." DNR's Bat House Building Handbook provides full instructions for building and installing bat houses.

White-nose syndrome poses serious threat for Wisconsin bats
White-nose syndrome, named for the powdery white fuzz that can develop on hibernating bats' noses, ears and wings after infection with the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, causes bats to awaken more often during hibernation, thus burning up critical stores of fat they need to survive winter.

Since white-nose syndrome was documented at a single Wisconsin site in April 2014, it has spread to more than 50 mines and caves in 20 of the 24 Wisconsin counties with known bat hibernacula. Bat populations in Wisconsin hibernacula where WNS has been present two or more years have declined 30 to 80 percent.

Wisconsin's little brown and big brown bats are the most likely species to take up residence in bat houses. A bat nursery house can provide shelter for 100 to 300 little brown bats. For easy instructions and how-to videos, check out the Department of Natural Resources' bat house web pages at dnr.wi.gov, keywords "bat house."

When built and placed correctly, bat houses offer safe, warm habitat for maternity colonies, Kaarakka says. Mother bats can give birth to their young there and the house provides shelter while mother bats leave the roost nightly to feed and while the pups remain in the roost until they are able to fly.

Properties where there are already bat roosts are good candidates for bat houses. Providing a bat house can help get bats out of old homes, barns and other buildings while helping keep these beneficial insect-eating mammals around. State law prohibits disturbing bat roosts from June 1 through Aug. 15 to protect mothers and pups, but placing a bat house during this time period can help begin the process of excluding bats from buildings because it offers an alternative habitat. More information on exclusion can be found in DNR's Bat Exclusion publication.

Builders are encouraged to paint the bat house dark brown or black to help the house heat up and stay warm through the night. A warmer house enables a shorter gestation period and faster maturation of the pups, Kaarakka says.


Kent Borcherding has now built more than 800 bat houses to aid bats in the Midwest, including more than 100 for Yellowstone Lake State Park.
Video Credit: DNR
Installing bat houses on sunny, south or east facing sites within one-quarter mile of lakes or rivers, where bats can drink water and find food at night, increases the chances the houses will be used. Bat houses should be mounted 10 to 15 feet in the air on a pole or a building and not trees, which provide too much shade and easy access to the bats from predators such as owls.

Finally, Kaarakka encourages patience in waiting for bats to take up residence in the new house. "If there is a colony within a mile or so, the bat house may get used within a couple of months, especially in the late summer and fall as juvenile bats are exploring and learning to forage," she says. "If there is no established roost in the area, it can sometimes take several years for bats to find and inhabit the bat house."

Learn about other ways to help Wisconsin bats and subscribe for free electronic updates online today - visit the Wisconsin Bat Program (exit DNR).

Video: