Save the Bats!!!!

[aneaglesangel]

I recently learned that Rhode Island and Massachusett's bat populations are in big trouble! They are being affected by a fungus called WNS (White Nose Syndrome) and it is killing them. During the winter Big Brown Bats hibernate. (Our second species of the two who live in this area, the Small Brown Bat migrates south for the winter, but apparently the fungus is affecting their population also.) They usually live in caves, barns and attics during this time and sleep all winter. What the fungus does is changes their hibernation so that they literally, starve to death. This is bad news in my eyes. Does anyone here like mosquitoes? No, well then you need bats, they eat them!!

So, if you've got a yard, or some space, please don't be shy, or afraid of bats, put up a bat house. They don't like contact with humans, but they would pay their rent by eating up the bugs that bite you, cause disease, and well, just bug the heck out of you! So if you can, please do try to provide them with safe homes. Their population has dwindled at an alarming rate, and when I read about this, I was a bit upset. If we lose our bats, we have more bugs, and well, the whole food cycle gets messed up. So even if you're squeamish and a bit afraid of bats, you have to admit, we need them.

So please, if you can do anything at all to help the bats, do try! They're our little bug eaters and they do a great job, and they really don't bother anyone. They're much happier in the sky than when they accidentally end up in your home!

I also have an email address for someone in Connecticut who is handling the bat population problem. If anyone needs more information or a link to the site describing our bat problem, let me know, I'll send it over to you!

Hugs guys and thanks for helping my little furry friends. I can't say how many summer evenings I've sat and watched bats at hunt. They're great flyers and are a needed part of our ecology!

Found a link that tells a bit about the fungus:

www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1872107491/Deadly-fungus-could-wipe-out-bats

[aneaglesangel]

Poor little guys:

"There is no safe place for these bats in the Northeast," said vonOettingen. "If you think of it optimistically, we are at risk of losing 90 to 95 percent of all of our bats. A pessimistic view would say we lose 100 percent."

Kunz said it may be premature to make such a dire prediction.

"The mortality in some of those (hibernation) sites has been in the 90 to 95 percent range. I think we'll have considerably reduced bat numbers this summer but we'll know more in mid-June when the adult colony reaches its peak," he said.

"We're looking at possible extinction of some of these species of bats if it continues to spread," he said.

A New England without bats could provide an easy environment for mosquitoes which could increase the spread of some diseases including eastern equine encephalitis or West Nile virus, some experts said. But the more likely, immediate and local effect from a bat die-off would be a boost in pests that attack garden and farm crops.

VonOettingen said people in areas with bat die-offs would notice more night- flying insects, more garden pests and might have to use more pesticides on farm crops.

[aneaglesangel]

"Bats are very slow reproducing mammals," French said. "They give birth, most of them, to only one pup per year. If you lose a colony of bats ... it would be a very slow recovery."

In late January she visited two caves in New Hampshire. One was clean, filled with only healthy bats clustered together on the ceiling deep in hibernation. A cave a mile down the road was mostly clean, with about 10 percent of the bats showing signs of white-nose syndrome.

Last week she revisited those two caves and was devastated by what she saw. In the cave with a mild infection only a small portion of the bats remained and 90 percent of them had white-nose syndrome. In the formerly healthy and clean cave, a vast majority of the bats were sick.

OK, hopefully, I'm off my soapbox now. But it really does make a difference when we lose whole species of animals. There's got to be something we can do to help!