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White nose syndrome continues to spread

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White nose syndrome is named for the powdery white fuzz that develops on hibernating bats’ noses, ears and wings. (Wisconsin DNR Photo)

 

By Ted Pennekamp

 

The recent discovery of white nose syndrome in bats in Spook Cave in Iowa shows that the disease is continuing to spread relatively rapidly.

In 2016, the number of bats in Spook Cave near McGregor surpassed 300. In 2017 only eight bats were found. In 2018, just four bats were located.

John P. White, mammal ecologist – Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said he is not surprised given the rate and geographic spread of the disease.

White noted that Crawford County was declared white-nose syndrome (WNS) positive in 2015, and the situation is not improving.

“Unfortunately, cave bat populations have not fared well in the face of WNS,” White said. “Bat populations in Crawford County as well as statewide have continued to decline (in some sites declined by 100 percent) since WNS was first discovered in Wisconsin in 2014.

The disease is generally spreading from the eastern United States to the west, but Wisconsin was considered kind of an island for awhile, with Michigan, Canada, Illinois and Iowa having cases of white nose syndrome before Wisconsin did. 

“It’s a hard realization to come to grips with, but white-nose syndrome is everywhere in Wisconsin. Our 2017 winter surveillance of hibernacula revealed that WNS has negatively affected most, if not all bat hibernacula in the state,” said White in an article he wrote in February of 2018 about the Wisconsin Bat Program in the publication Echolocator.

Wisconsin, now in its fifth year of infection, has seen severe declines in cave bat species with population losses ranging from 70 to 100 percent. At Wisconsin’s original infection point in Grant County, the disease has decreased a once thriving hibernating bat population by 98.4 percent overall compared to the pre-WNS average population. An abandoned lead mine in Grant County, in 2014, became the first place in the state where the disease was detected. 

Hibernacula now in year three of infection have not fared much better, with an overall decline of 80 percent compared to the pre-WNS average. The declines reported in Wisconsin are similar to what have been reported in the disease-endemic eastern United States, with little brown bats, northern long-eared bats and eastern pipistrelles especially hard hit.

What this means for the future of cave bats in Wisconsin remains to be seen but the Wisconsin Bat Program will continue to conduct WNS surveillance to assess changes resulting from the disease. Information from these efforts will prioritize research aimed to identify and protect surviving populations, said White.

Members of the public should report sick or dead bats to help with monitoring efforts and to confirm bat population losses, said White. The Wisconsin Bat Program is especially interested in finding banded bats. Sick or dead bat observations can be reported at http://wiatri.net/ Inventory/Bats/Report/.

Citizens can also help by building bat houses, White said. 

“Building bat houses can help bats that are affected by WNS especially in the spring when a warm, safe place is needed as infected bats may try to recover from WNS,” said White. “And, in the summer months, bat houses can support maternity colonies of female bats who will give birth to bat pups, which can help depress local insect pests.”

Other ways to help, said White is through the Wisconsin Bat Program’s two volunteer-based projects, Bat Roost Monitoring and Acoustic Bat Monitoring. “Both projects help us monitor the health and status of bat species that use Wisconsin during the summer,” White said.

Near Prairie du Chien, the Prairie Rod and Gun Club has been erecting bat houses to be placed at La Riviere Park to help make up for the loss of a chimney that was torn down at La Riviere. The chimney was used by thousands of bats, said Prairie Rod and Gun Club member and former DNR Conservation Warden Dennis Kirschbaum. Prairie du Chien High School technical education students assisted with the two-year project.

The Rod and Gun Club also assisted with the initial clean-up at Kickapoo Indian Caverns near Wauzeka which was recently purchased by the Mississippi Valley Conservancy (MVC). Home to one of Wisconsin’s top five largest hibernating bat populations, Kickapoo Indian Caverns is one of the most spectacular caves in the Midwest.

This cave has one of the longest natural cavern systems in the state and provides hibernacula for the federally threatened, northern long-eared bat, and state threatened, little brown bat and eastern pipistrelle.

The MVC intends to manage the property specifically for the protection of the bats, including closing the cave to tours during bat hibernation season. Kickapoo Indian Caverns also provide for an ideal opportunity for outreach, education, and a secure location for long-term research and study.

In fact, MVC will host Family Bat Fest on July 21. Activities will highlight the history of the cave, the role of bats in nature, and the need to pro- tect bats. The event is part of the MVC’s “Linked to the Land” series, sponsored by Mayo Clinic Health System.

To sign up for email updates about MVC and opportunities to tour Kickapoo Indian Caverns, including Family Bat Fest, visit: mississippivalleyconservancy.org.

MVC will also host a presentation entitled “The bats we need and the caves they rely on” at its upcoming annual meeting in La Crosse.

Members, friends and community are invited to attend the annual member meeting on Saturday, April 7 from 9 a.m.-11 a.m.

The event program will include MVC news and previews of 2018 events and activities. Special guest Jennifer Redell will present information about the beneficial role of bats and their habitat needs. She will demonstrate the use of an echolocator in locating and protecting bats with several live bats she’ll be bringing to the event. Redell is Conservation Biologist/Cave and Mine Specialist for the Wisconsin Bat Program. Also presenting will be Ansel Brenneman, a student from Viroqua’s Laurel High School who will be reporting on the outcome of his eighth grade bat education project. The organization’s annual Conservation Awards will also be presented.

Coffee, tea, and water will be provided, and attendees are encouraged to bring baked goods to share. The event will be held at the Mayo Clinic Health System’s Marycrest Auditorium, on the second floor at 700 West Avenue South, La Crosse. Attendees are to park in Lot 5 and enter through the main hospital entrance.

There are four species of bats listed as threatened in Wisconsin; little brown bats, big brown bats, the eastern pipistrelle and the northern long-eared bat. The northern long-eared bat is also on the federal threatened species list.

Losing the bat population would result in huge increases in insects. With fewer bats to eat insects, Wisconsin and Crawford County can expect more damage to crops and forests. Also, there may be an increased threat to humans through insect borne disease such as West Nile Virus which is spread by mosquitoes. 

Wisconsin had one of the largest cave-dwelling bat populations in the Upper Midwest with an estimated 350,000-500,000 hibernating in the state in the winter. Each bat can eat 500 to 1,000 mosquito-sized insects in an hour. The economic impact of continued bat population decline would be devastating. According to a study by the National Wildlife Health Center, insect suppression because of bats is worth between $4 billion and $50 billion each year to agriculture in the United States.

White nose syndrome does not affect people or other animal groups.

Efforts by the Wisconsin Bat Program to control the human-assisted transmission of the fungus remain in place, including strict decontamination requirements for researchers and cavers, and efforts to educate commercial cave and mine visitors to help ensure they do not transport the fungus to other caves or mines. Every hibernaculum owner who allows visitors to their site has a white nose syndrome plan in place.

Wisconsin citizens can help by continuing to avoid disturbing bats, especially during hibernation.

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