There’s your opportunity in life, Peter. Open a bat diner near Howe Caverns and
watch ‘em flock in next winter. Maybe you can get a start-up grant from the
Center for Biological Diversity or Dr. Tuttle.
And of course you are correct – bats don’t die from WNS any more that a person
dies from a long fall.
E ^v^
From: Peter Jones
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2014 8:49 AM
To: Jim Evatt
Cc: DONALD G. DAVIS ; s...@caver.net
Subject: Re: [SWR] Oklahoma removed from list of suspected bat fungus areas
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
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