Two bats from a Pendleton County cave now being examined by a wildlife disease laboratory in Wisconsin were bearing a small amount of what appeared to be a white fungus, but did not appear to be exhibiting symptoms of white-nose syndrome - a disease that has killed tens of thousands of hibernating bats in the northeast.
Two bats from a Pendleton County cave now being examined by a wildlife disease laboratory in Wisconsin were bearing a small amount of what appeared to be a white fungus, but did not appear to be exhibiting symptoms of white-nose syndrome - a disease that has killed tens of thousands of hibernating bats in the northeast.
The bats were collected at Trout Cave in early April.
No dead bats were found at the cave, as previously reported, but two live bats had a very small amount of what appeared to be a fungus on them - one on the ear and the other on its wrist, according to Craig Stihler, the Division of Natural Resources' endangered species coordinator.
"We debated as to whether or not we should collect these bats, but decided we needed to have them looked at by one of the labs working on white-nose syndrome," Stihler said.
After being euthanized, "they were sent to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin."
While the bats had little fat remaining on their bodies, that condition is not unusual for bats at the end of their hibernation period. The weights of the bats were within the range normally observed at this time of year.
"Unfortunately, no one knows the cause of white-nose syndrome, so the lab can't test for it, but they are going to examine the bats further," Stihler said.
"I would be very concerned if we found a number of dead bats at the cave, but we did not find any dead bats. We did find a couple bats with a small amount of what appeared to be a fungus, but it did not look like white nose and it may be normal for bats hibernating in a moist cave to occasionally get fungus on them. Before this problem arose, we didn't examine bats closely during our surveys and would not have noticed a small amount of fungus."
White-nose syndrome has decimated hibernating bat colonies in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and it is suspected of having spread to caves in Pennsylvania, including areas near the West Virginia border. Winter surveys have shown that in eight of the affected New York caves, mortality ranged from 80 percent to 100 percent since the syndrome was documented at each site.
While it can't be said for a certainty that white-nose syndrome has not reached West Virginia, "so far, we have not seen anything in West Virginia that alarms me, and I hope it remains that way," Stihler said.
To contact staff writer Rick Steelhammer use e-mail or call 348-5169.
Two bats from a Pendleton County cave now being examined by a wildlife disease laboratory in Wisconsin were bearing a small amount of what appeared to be a white fungus, but did not appear to be exhibiting symptoms of white-nose syndrome - a disease that has killed tens of thousands of hibernating bats in the northeast.
The bats were collected at Trout Cave in early April.
No dead bats were found at the cave, as previously reported, but two live bats had a very small amount of what appeared to be a fungus on them - one on the ear and the other on its wrist, according to Craig Stihler, the Division of Natural Resources' endangered species coordinator.
"We debated as to whether or not we should collect these bats, but decided we needed to have them looked at by one of the labs working on white-nose syndrome," Stihler said.
After being euthanized, "they were sent to the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin."
While the bats had little fat remaining on their bodies, that condition is not unusual for bats at the end of their hibernation period. The weights of the bats were within the range normally observed at this time of year.
"Unfortunately, no one knows the cause of white-nose syndrome, so the lab can't test for it, but they are going to examine the bats further," Stihler said.
"I would be very concerned if we found a number of dead bats at the cave, but we did not find any dead bats. We did find a couple bats with a small amount of what appeared to be a fungus, but it did not look like white nose and it may be normal for bats hibernating in a moist cave to occasionally get fungus on them. Before this problem arose, we didn't examine bats closely during our surveys and would not have noticed a small amount of fungus."
White-nose syndrome has decimated hibernating bat colonies in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and it is suspected of having spread to caves in Pennsylvania, including areas near the West Virginia border. Winter surveys have shown that in eight of the affected New York caves, mortality ranged from 80 percent to 100 percent since the syndrome was documented at each site.
While it can't be said for a certainty that white-nose syndrome has not reached West Virginia, "so far, we have not seen anything in West Virginia that alarms me, and I hope it remains that way," Stihler said.
To contact staff writer Rick Steelhammer use e-mail or call 348-5169.
