(Image: Little brown bat with white-nose syndrome; Credit: Al Hicks, New York Department of Environmental Conservation)
Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service unveiled a plan that addresses, on a national level, the threats posed by a bat killer known as white-nose syndrome.
This disease has killed more than a million hibernating bats in eastern North America alone since 2006, the year it was discovered near Albany, N.Y. If the pattern continues, it could wipe out many bat species.
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“Having spread to 18 states and four Canadian provinces, white-nose syndrome (WNS) threatens far-reaching ecological and economic impacts,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a press release. “We’ve learned a lot in the past few years about the disease, but there is much more work to be done to contain it. This national plan provides a road map for federal, state and tribal agencies, and scientific researchers to follow and will facilitate sharing of resources and information to more efficiently address the threat.”
You can read the entire plan by clicking here.
We've been tracking the disease over these past few years at Discovery News, and experts have informed me that the disease likely originated in Europe and was spread by human trade or travel. Researchers working with the U.S. Geological Survey have identified the fungus Geomyces destructans as the likely culprit. This fungus is new to science.
The plan in and of itself doesn't provide any miracle cures, but at least it demonstrates a concerted effort to fight the problem. Bats aren't exactly poster animals for conservation, since many people are scared of them. (It's hard, however, to be afraid of baby bats like the tiny one in this video.)
Cuteness aside, bats benefit us in many ways. Consider that a single little brown bat, which has a body no bigger than an adult's thumb, can eat 4 to 8 grams (the weight of about a grape or two) of insects each night. Many of those insects could be destroying crops or biting us. In fact, pest-control services provided by insect-eating bats in the United States likely save the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion a year, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Our government's investment, both in terms of time and money, is therefore a drop in the bucket compared to the losses we've been sustaining with the bat deaths. Interior Department agencies have invested more than $10.8 million to fight white-nose syndrome since 2007. That money includes more than $3 million in research funding.
The new federal plan to fight white-nose syndrome was authored by the following agencies: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Forest Service; U.S. Department of Defense, Army Corps of Engineers; U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, Geological Survey; National Park Service; St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Environment Division; Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources; Missouri Department of Conservation; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; Pennsylvania Game Commission; Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife; Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
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I'm glad that in addition to supporting research, the national response also calls for continued decontamination protocols to reduce the transmission of the fungus, surveillance strategies, and technical white-nose syndrome diagnostic procedures.
The national plan’s release coincides with the fourth annual White-Nose Syndrome Symposium to be held in Little Rock, Arkansas, May 17-19. More than 170 of the world’s leading bat experts are scheduled to attend.
For more information about white-nose syndrome and the new plan, please check out this Q&A: Download NationalPlan_QA_May2011
Tags: Animals, Current Events, Health, Human Behavior, Mammals
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