The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) announced June 6
that PGC biologists are seeking assistance from the public. Summer 2013 a
regional monitoring effort to collect bat maternity colony data will occur. The
monitoring is deemed highly important to measure bat mortalities caused by
White-Nose Syndrome (WNS), a disease that affects hibernating bats in
Pennsylvania and other parts of the eastern United States.
More than a million cave bats have died from the fungus
Geomyces destructans (Gd) that causes WNS over the past five years. The
pervasive Gd strikes while bats are in communal hibernation, often clustered
like sardines in a tin to conserve energy. Bats spend about sis months in
hibernation and live off of a finite supply of energy. Gd irritates the
deep-sleeping bats, forcing them out of their hibernation, which requires
increased energy consumption from a reserve that barely sustains them through
winter. Death often follows, regardless of whether the bat stays put or flies
Although WNS primarily kills bats in the winter, the
complete impact of the disease cannot be measured using the winter estimates.
The public is needed to help conduct a summer bat count to fully gauge the
impact of WNS. While all are encouraged to participate, the PGC urges people
who’ve previously participated in a bat count to do so again. For more
information and an application to participate in this vital wildlife
conservation effort, please visit “Appalachian Bat Count.”
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