[BCNnet] FW: Emergency Petitions Filed to Close Caves and Save Bats From Extinction

[Carolyn A. Marsh]

FYI, Carolyn Marsh

 

[
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/bats-01-21-2010.
html ]

 

For Immediate Release, January 21, 2010 

Contact: Mollie Matteson, Center for Biological Diversity, (802) 434-2388
(office), (802) 318-1487 (cell)

Emergency Petitions Filed to Close Caves and Save Bats From Extinction 

WASHINGTON- 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
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome
/pdfs/Cave-petition-01-21-2010.pdf>  asks federal agencies to close all bat
caves under their jurisdiction and asks Interior Secretary Salazar to pass
regulations restricting travel between bat caves under any jurisdiction.
Such measures are necessary until it can be shown that people are not a
vector for the newly emergent bat disease known as white-nose syndrome, and
that measures to eliminate risk of spread are effective. The second petition
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome
/pdfs/petition-Myotisleibii-Myotisseptentrionalis.pdf>  asks for the eastern
small-footed bat and the northern long-eared bat, both hit hard by
white-nose syndrome
<http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome
/index.html> , 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. 

"This is the worst wildlife catastrophe the country has seen since the
extinction of the passenger pigeon," said Matteson. "Bats eat millions of
insects every year, meaning their loss could have far-reaching consequences
for people and for crops."

The Center is requesting that the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture,
and Defense close all bat-inhabited caves and mines on federal lands
throughout the continental United States to prevent the possible human
transmission of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome and to ban travel
between caves with bats under any jurisdiction. Scientists suspect that
people are partially responsible for the fungus' spread and may even have
introduced it to North America. A recent genetic analysis of a white fungus
found on a bat in France confirmed that it is identical to the
disease-causing fungus in the United States. However, European bats do not
appear to become ill from the fungus.
"Closing nonessential access to caves is a necessary precaution until
white-nose syndrome is better understood and it can be determined that
entering caves is safe," said Matteson. The group supports white-nose
syndrome research in caves, and has also asked that a national fund be
established to acquire and conserve important bat caves from willing
sellers. 

The two bat species the Center is petitioning to have listed as endangered
were already rare prior to the appearance of white-nose syndrome and are now
at grave risk of extinction. 

"Without aggressive efforts to secure their habitat and stem further losses
from all causes, including probable human transmission of the new bat
disease, these bats may soon join the sad list of American species we know
only from textbooks and museums," said Matteson. 

###

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation
organization with more than 255,000 members and online activists dedicated
to the protection of endangered species and wild places.

From: @K.ST Action: REJECT
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