WNS itself does not kill the bats. It is in fact a minor irritant, much like a nasal cold, that wakes the bats up in mid-winter during their hibernation and uses up their reserve fats. They fly out of the cave looking for a mid-winter snack and can't find an open diner anywhere to eat at. As such, they essentially die from starvation or freezing to death. I don't know of anyone who died from a cold, as we know it. Sooner or later, we all get over colds. It's a question of whether or not they can survive the remainder of the winter without more nourishment.
Peter On May 8, 2014, at 10:41 AM, Jim Evatt wrote: > Recent biostudies indicate that the bats in those areas most heavily > devastated are somehow enhancing their own imunosystems against WNS, and are > surviving despite the spore presence. Seems likely since WNS, or at least a > nearly twin sister of it, has been present in Europe for almost 100 years, > and while bats have died, not one case of a species going extinnct has been > reported. > > E ^v^ > > > Subject: Re: [SWR] Oklahoma removed from list of suspected bat fungus areas > > Hi, Donald: Having just spent two weeks photographing throughout Ft Stanton > and talking at length with Mike Bilbo about WNS and decon, I doubt seriously > that BLM is going to reverse its decision about cave closures. Despite the > false reading of the Oklahoma bat, WNS has been steadily marching its way > across the country and is now as close as Arkansas. Bilbo pointed out to me > that there are a series of caves in northern Texas whose conditions are ideal > for WNS to spread through and Ft Stanton is included in that list of caves. > Although the spread of WNS through the human vector is all but debunked at > this point, it does continue to spread through the bats themselves and the > caving community can't do a thing to stop that spread. Unfortunately, the > human vector of organizations like the Center for BioDiversity is a bigger > threat to the closure of caves than WNS ever considered itself to be…. In > some ways, we are lucky to be able to go into caves AT ALL these days due to > the scourge of WNS and the hysteria associated with it. It is a very sad > situation for the bats and one that we are unable to control as humans. As > much a pain in the ass as doing the full scale decon is, it's as much a sign > that we care as cavers to help slow down the spread of the disease, whether > it is effective or not. > > Peter > > > > > > On May 7, 2014, at 11:25 AM, DONALD G. DAVIS wrote: > >> "William Tucker" <william.tuc...@att.net> wrote: >> >>> I haven't seen anyone discussing this; possibly because the news has >>> not gotten around, yet. I just received this press announcement. >>> >>> >>> May 6, 2014 >>> >>> A service of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife >>> Conservation >>> >>> OKLAHOMA REMOVED FROM LIST OF SUSPECTED BAT FUNGUS >>> AREAS >> >> So, as many of us have suspected all along, the Oklahoma WNS >> report that was used as the trigger to close Ft. Stanton and NM's other >> BLM caves was a false positive. Several years ago, when Marikay Ramsey >> (major architect of that closure) was at the SW Technical Regional, I >> asked her if it could be. She replied that it was not false. I suppose >> that it's too much to hope that this belated confirmation of its falsity >> will trigger reopening the caves. >> --Donald >> _______________________________________________ >> SWR mailing list >> s...@caver.net >> http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr >> _______________________________________________ >> This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET > > > _______________________________________________ > SWR mailing list > s...@caver.net > http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr > _______________________________________________ > This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
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