Listening In on a Bat Cave : NPR

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• Health & Science

  Listening In on a Bat Cave

  by Jim Metzner

• All Things Considered, May 6, 2008 · A mysterious disease called “white-nose syndrome” is striking down hibernating bat populations in New York State. Four of the state’s six species of hibernating bats are suffering from this affliction, which is decimating bat populations throughout the Northeast.

• Disease Deadly to Bats Spreads in Northeast U.S.

  by Brian Mann

• The scientists also suspect that the illness may have infected caves in Pennsylvania, and they worry that entire species of bats could be wiped out in affected areas.

• “We are still in the dark with what this is,” says biologist Susi von Oettingen, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

• Despite white-nose syndrome’s rapid spread, the Fish and Wildlife Service still hasn’t appointed a full-time employee to coordinate the response.

  Earlier this month, a coalition of environmental groups threatened to sue the federal government under the Endangered Species Act if more action isn’t taken.

  Brian Mann reports from North Country Public Radio.