White nose syndrome decimating bat populationsWritten by Don
Hendershot It’s only a matter of time before the fungal
infection white nose syndrome (WNS) appears in North Carolina,
say wildlife experts. White nose syndrome is decimating bat
populations across the country. It was first reported in the
winter of 2006-2007 from a cave near Albany, N.Y. The disease,
named for the white fungus that often appears on infected bats’
noses, muzzles and wings, is responsible for the deaths of
millions of bats across a variety of species and is spreading
rapidly. WNS has now been detected from Ontario and Quebec,
Canada down the eastern seaboard from Vermont to Virginia and
Tennessee and just recently westward to Missouri and Oklahoma.
Oklahoma presents pause for added concern because WNS was
detected in a new species — cave myotis — that ranges across the
Southwest to southern California and south to Mexico and Central
America. At least 14 states have documented the disease. Coming
soon to N.C. WNS has not, at this date