April 14th, 2009 According to Andrew Madden, the Department of
Fisheries and Wildlife Western District Manager, the bat
mortality rates in the region has reached a ‘catastrophic’
level. In his monthly report to the Berkshire County League of
Sportsmen, he reported the results from recent surveys of bat
hibernacula (hibernating places, typically caves and mines) in
Massachusetts. The surveys have shown dramatic rates of
mortality and biologists are attributing this die-off to White
Nose Syndrome. Evidence of the syndrome has appeared in bats
throughout the Northeast and is now being found as far south as
Virginia. In some hibernacula, bats are dying by the thousands.
Mortality in some caves and mines in Massachusetts may be as
high as 95 or 100 percent. As an example, Madden mentioned that
one of the biggest hibernacula (in Chester), which normally has
8,000 to 10,000 bats at this time of year, had only 150
remaining. Some of the infected bats have the characteristic
white fungus on their muzzles. Biologists d