I’ll admit that the reading I’ve done on white-nose syndrome over the last few weeks has been pretty depressing- at one point I saw an estimate of 6.7 million bat deaths so far (Cohn 2012), which is a horrifying number. But I think it would be even more horrifying to simply resign ourselves to the catastrophe which seems to be at hand. We may not fully understand how the fungus works or how to stop it, but we can work to slow its progress and support bat populations in infected areas and elsewhere.
Want some ideas on how to help?
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Looking for more details?
- The USFWS has set up a website devoted to white-nose syndrome, including directions on how to keep human visitors to caves from becoming transportation for fungal spores (including rubber caving boots).
- If you are thinking of adding bat boxes to your house or property, Bat Conservation International has design recommendations and tips for attracting bats. Even though the bats may not spend the winter in your boxes, you can give them easy access to high quality habitat during the summer which hopefully leads to a better chance of making it through the winter.
You can also contribute to bat research:
- It’s almost the end of this year’s season, but you can still contribute to the Pennsylvania yearly bat count if you complete a simple count by the end of the month (or you can get a head start planning for next year!).
- Georgia’s Anabat Project is looking for multi-year volunteers.
- If you are in Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Bat Monitoring Program is looking for help with acoustic surveys.
- Maine Audubon would like to hear from you if you know the location of roosting colonies.
And remember that good press for bats is helpful, too!
- The Great Lakes Bat Festival is September 28, 2013 in Southfield, Michigan.
- Florida’s 9th Annual Bat Festival will be October 26, 2013 near Gainesville.
- Bat Conservation International is looking for volunteers to be docents and educators in Austin and New Braunfels, Texas.
Works cited:
Cohn, JP. 2012. Bats and white-nose syndrome still a conundrum. BioScience 62: 444.