first the bees, now bats are dyingPeople urged to stay out of caves to fight deadly bat disease
Fungus causes early end of hibernation
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: April 6, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky.
Federal officials are asking people in Kentucky and other states, including North Carolina, to stay out of caves where bats hibernate to try to stop the spread of a disease that's killing thousands them.
Bats are dying from what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls "white-nose syndrome." The fungus causes bats to come out of hibernation early, leading to starvation. It hasn't yet showed up in Kentucky, but officials are still asking people to stay out of caves where bats nest.
"It's amazing how fast it's moved south," said Steve Thomas, an ecologist with the National Park Service based at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. "It's devastating to the bats."
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Author and cave explorer Roger Brucker, who has written about Kentucky caves, said bats are known to eat three to five times their weight in insects per night, "and the death of hundreds of thousands of bats means millions of pounds of dangerous mosquitoes and other bugs can overwhelm farm crops, animals, and infect people."http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/apr/06/people-urged-to-stay-out-of-caves-to-fight-deadly-/