John Brooks said:
>But I am still opposed to reactionary cave closures; because I do
not think it makes any sense. What is to stop an infected bat from
flying from one colony to another? Are they going to close the bat
caves to bats too? Is there scientific proof that closure stops the
spread of WNS?
Nothing stops bats from flying from colony to colony, and
they do it regularly - more often than I would have expected. And
there is no proof that closing caves to people has done anything to
limit the spread of WNS. On the other hand, there _is_ proof that
bats spread it because it has shown up in caves and mines that have
been gated and off-limits to people for years. Closing hibernacula
and maternity caves is probably a smart move, if only because human
activities might disturb the bats, whether or not it introduces
WNS. And as John and others have pointed out, those don't tend to be
caves we want to visit regularly anyway. But blanket closures make
no sense and are entirely unjustified. Agencies do it because they
feel like they have to do _something_, and at the moment that's about
all they can come up with. :-(
Mark Minton
Please reply to mmin...@caver.net
Permanent email address is mmin...@illinoisalumni.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit our website: http://texascavers.com
To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com
For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
