From the Philadelphia Enquirer:
The latest models predict the little brown bat, the most numerous in the nation, could be extinct in 7 to 30 years.
"That's incredibly fast," said Greg Turner, the Pennsylvania Game Commission's endangered-mammal specialist. "Unprecedented is the word."
"Humans have done a pretty good job of killing a lot of animals, like the buffalo," he said, "but nothing like this has ever been recorded. It's pretty bleak. That's the only way to say it."
Congress has only allocated $1.9 million for the study and battle against WNS. To put this in perspective, that is 0.0002% of the $787 billion stimulus package.
The article goes on to say:
"I think Pennsylvania bats are done," Reeder said.
White-nose affects six of the state's eight species. "Big browns will probably be OK. Our tree bats will probably be OK," she said. "Everybody else is going to go."
And
Last fall, Congress approved $1.9 million for white-nose research. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has dedicated funds along with states and private groups including Bat Conservation International and the National Speleological Society, a caving group.
It's not nearly enough, Reeder said. "We need money to do the assays. I need bodies out in the field."
It's a race against time. "I view this thing like a wildfire that's just blowing so hot and so fast across the country," she said. "We've got to figure out, do we do a firebreak?"
You can just go to your congressperson's web page and send them an email. If you don't know who they are, type your zipcode here: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/ then follow the links to their contact pages.
Here is what I said to mine. Feel free to copy & paste. Be sure to add your own thoughts (and replace "Washington" with your state, if little browns are the most numerous bats in your state). It is best to write your thoughts in a text file, save it, then copy and paste to each of your senators and your representative.
Today I read a very disturbing article about bats and white-nose syndrome in the northeast U.S.:
Solving the mystery of the dying bats - http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20 ... ?viewAll=y
This quote just floored me:
"The latest models predict the little brown bat, the most numerous in the nation, could be extinct in 7 to 30 years.
"That's incredibly fast," said Greg Turner, the Pennsylvania Game Commission's endangered-mammal specialist. "Unprecedented is the word."
"Humans have done a pretty good job of killing a lot of animals, like the buffalo," he said, "but nothing like this has ever been recorded. It's pretty bleak. That's the only way to say it.""
Little brown bats are the most common bat species in Washington, as well as the entire U.S.
The article describes the situation well:
"Last fall, Congress approved $1.9 million for white-nose research. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has dedicated funds along with states and private groups including Bat Conservation International and the National Speleological Society, a caving group.
It's not nearly enough, Reeder said. "We need money to do the assays. I need bodies out in the field."
It's a race against time. "I view this thing like a wildfire that's just blowing so hot and so fast across the country," she said."
The extinction of little brown bats (as well as many other bat species that are also susceptible to white-nose syndrome) will not only be a devastating biological loss, it will result in a huge increase in their insect prey. Bats have a tremendous metabolism and appetite for insects, consuming up to 1200 insects per hour. As the article states:
"Scientists estimate the million bats lost so far would have eaten 694 tons of insects just last year.
Their diet includes crop pests and mosquitoes, which can spread West Nile disease and equine encephalitis."
$1.9 million is not nearly enough to effectively understand WNS and prevent the extinction of the vast majority of bats in North America. I urge you to support efforts by Bat Conservation International, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations to understand and contain this "wildfire" which is well on its way to causing our bats to go extinct.
If you want to donate directly to WNS efforts:
http://www.caves.org/WNS/Rapid_Response.shtml
http://www.batcon.org/index.php/support ... emType=wns
