Emergency Petitions Filed to Close Caves and Save Bats From Extinction

The Center for Biological Diversity today filed two emergency petitions with the federal government in an effort to stop the spread of a deadly bat disease and step up government action to save two rare bat species from extinction. The first petition asks federal agencies to close all caves under their jurisdiction and asks Interior Secretary Salazar to pass regulations banning travel between caves under any jurisdiction. The second petition asks for the eastern small-footed bat and the northern long-eared bat, both hit hard by the newly emergent disease known as white-nose syndrome, to be protected as endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“White-nose syndrome has decimated bats in the Northeast and is quickly spreading to other regions,” said Mollie Matteson, a conservation advocate with the Center. “Our government needs to increase its response by an order of magnitude to offer any hope for bats in the eastern United States and to ensure that the disease does not spread across the country.”

The Center’s actions come as scientists and wildlife agencies brace themselves for a fourth winter of bat deaths across the eastern United States. Since white-nose syndrome was first documented in caves in the Albany, New York area in early 2007, the disease – since confirmed as a previously unknown fungus – has spread to bat populations in a total of nine states. Biologists believe it will show up in new areas this winter, and may reach some of the densest and most diverse bat populations in the world, in the South and Midwest, within the next year or two. Thus far, over a million bats are dead from the syndrome.

It’s a pretty radical proposal. Would it even have the desired effect? Is there any evidence that human encroachment in bat caves exacerbates the disease or promotes its spread? Got to hand it to them for wanting to protects bats though.

The latest on this proposal and WNS

Environmental group asks Interior Department to close all caves to save bats

Fungus that targets bats ‘very scary’

How to help bats

NSRWA series: Hard times for Bay State bats