Fwd: Fw: WNS fungus found in GRAY BATS in Missouri

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mylea Bayless <mbayless@batcon.org>
To: Mylea Bayless <mbayless@batcon.org>, Mollie Matteson <mmatteson@biologicaldiversity.org>
Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 07:17:38 -0700
Subject: WNS fungus found in GRAY BATS in Missouri
Sorry to be sending such bad news.  We submitted the Senate testimony yesterday at 2:00 and I received this press release at 3:30. A new map showing Shannon County, MO and several new sites in TN is posted at www.batcon.org/wns<http://www.batcon.org/wns>

Mylea L. Bayless
Conservation Biologist
Bat Conservation International
P.O. Box 162603
Austin, Texas  78716
512.327.9721 x34
512.327.9724 (fax)
http://www.batcon.org/<https://mail.batcon.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.batcon.org/>

Ozark NSR Closes All Caves after White-Nose Syndrome is Discovered in Shannon County

Van Buren, MO - Officials at Ozark National Scenic Riverways have announced the closure of all caves in the park effective immediately. On May 2 bat researchers from Missouri State University found an infectious fungus in five gray bats netted just outside a cave in Shannon County, Missouri. The bats tested positive in a genetics test for the Geomyces destructans fungus, which causes White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). Scars on their wings were a clue that the bats probably were infected over the winter, when the fungus grows on the bats' faces and skin during hibernation. The cool, damp conditions in many caves provide an environment in which the fungus thrives.

WNS is a serious disease that has been responsible for the deaths of over one million bats since its discovery in New York in 2006.  The first occurrence in Missouri, the twelfth state to document the disease, was discovered in Pike County in April.  Six bat species were known to be vulnerable, but the recent find is the first known case in Shannon County, and the first case in the federally endangered gray bat.

The westward spread of WNS is believed to occur primarily through bat-to-bat contact, but might also be transmitted on the clothes and gear of humans who have visited an infected cave.  Closing bat caves to human entry reduces human disturbance of bats, which exacerbates the mortality rate caused by WNS, and reduces the risk of possible human-borne transmission. WNS does not infect other animals or humans.

The discovery of WNS in Missouri, a state with more than 6,300 caves, is troubling to the state's leading cave resource experts.

"Missouri is home to at least 12 species of bats," explained Missouri Department of Conservation Cave Biologist Bill Elliott. "They are our front-line defense against many insect pests including some moths, certain beetles and mosquitoes. Insect pests can cause extensive forest and agricultural damage. Missouri's 775,000 gray bats alone eat more than 223 billion bugs a year, or about 540 tons. They also play a vital role in cave ecosystems, providing nutrients for other cave life through their droppings, or guano, and are food for other animals such as snakes and owls."