Latest White nose syndrome Stories

Two Bucknell professors have received a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service grant to find out whether certain genetic characteristics, behavior and environmental factors contribute to the severity of the white-nose syndrome, which has killed up to 6.7 million bats in eastern North America. LEWISBURG, Pa. (PRWEB) April 12, 2012 Two Bucknell University biologists are leading an investigation into how and why some bats survive – and others die – when exposed to the tell-tale fungus that...

With 6.7 million bats already dead, scientists believe the fast-spreading disease called White-nose Syndrome could lead to the extinction of some species. Lewisburg, PA (PRWEB) April 10, 2012 More than six million bats are dead, and millions more are expected to fall victim to a disease known as White-nose Syndrome, or WNS. First identified in the northeastern United States, WNS has wiped out an estimated 95% of Pennsylvania’s bat population and is quickly spreading across the country....

A new report released Monday says a European fungus is responsible for the deaths of millions of bats in the United States and Canada. It has long been a suspicion that an invasive species was responsible for carrying the deadly fungus. This research confirms the carrier was not native to North America. European bats have not been as vulnerable to “white nose syndrome,” the name of the fungal disease responsible for the deaths of American and Canadian bats alike. According to the...

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 7, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today presented the agency's annual report to the General Assembly, and delivered testimony before the House Game and Fisheries Committee. To view a copy of the agency's annual report, please visit the Game Commission's website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), put your cursor on "Resources" in the menu bar under the banner on the homepage, then select "Reports/Minutes" in...

A small population of rattlesnakes that already is in decline in southern Illinois faces a new and unexpected threat in the form of a fungus rarely seen in the wild, researchers report. The eastern massasauga rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus catenatus), a candidate for protection under the federal Endangered Species Act, suffers from habitat loss and environmental stresses wherever it is found, said University of Illinois comparative biosciences visiting instructor and wildlife...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said on Tuesday that the death toll for bats in North America that have suffered from White-nose Syndrome has exceeded 5.5 million. Biologists and partners of the service estimated that at least 5.7 million to 6.7 million bats have died from white-nose syndrome (WNS). The syndrome was first documented in New York in 2006, and the disease quickly spread into 16 states and four Canadian provinces. Bats with WNS have symptoms like flying around outside...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At the urging of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), a federal agency Tuesday updated and greatly increased its estimate of bat mortality from white-nose syndrome (WNS), the devastating disease decimating bat populations in Vermont and across the United States. Leahy has long led efforts in the Senate Appropriations Committee for research funding to counter WNS, a wildlife crisis of unprecedented scale. In December Leahy wrote to U.S....

A University of Tennessee researcher helped confirm the link between the fungus Geomyces destructans and the dropping bat population. Over a million bats were killed in North American in 2006, and little has been done to try and save them due to lack of evidence for the alleged killer. However, a new study has discovered that the fungus Geomyces destructans is the agent of White-noise Syndrome (WNS), which is the fungal disease decimating the bat population. The fungus has been...

Two bat species found in the US are another step closer to being declared an endangered species by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, reprots the Associated Press (AP). Dying off from a devastating fungus that has killed off caves full of bats, the very existence of two bat species is in jeopardy.The agency is launching a 90-day investigation into whether the eastern small-footed bat and the northern long-eared bat need protection under the Endangered Species Act. The two species would be the...

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two popular caves within the Forbes State Forest, Coon Cave in Westmoreland County and Barton Cave in Fayette County, will soon be reopened to the public for recreational caving, the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced today. A third cave, Lemon Hole in Westmoreland County, will remain closed. Beginning in the summer of 2006, the caves were gated from the beginning of October until the end of May due to concerns...