Bats need your help!
Apr. 30th, 2009 01:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kambrielIn the midst of all the hoopla about influenza cases in humans, you might want to take note of a much lesser discussed, yet potentially quite serious problem out there that's recently been facing our favourite scallop-winged mammals. Thank you so much to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
badriyaz for bringing this up:
"As you may be aware, bats have been dying by the thousands in the northeastern US of what has been called White Nose Syndrome. Researchers are making some good inroads into figuring this out, but government help will be needed to put that research into action. Behind the cut is a letter provided by Bat Conservation International that can be sent to your congressperson and senators. They generally have contact forms on their websites, making sending the letter very easy. White Nose Syndrome has been spreading fairly dramatically every year as bats from sick colonies migrate during the spring/fall and mingle with bats from previously healthy colonies. Already entire colonies have been lost. Anyway, please help bats. They helped you look cool through your goth phase (and perhaps still do), the least you can do is help them survive."
Dear Senator/Congressperson:
I am writing to urge your support for immediate Congressional hearings on White-nose Syndrome (WNS), a mysterious ailment that is killing hundreds of thousands of bats in the northeastern U.S. Fatalities at affected cave roosts often exceed 95%, and in just four winters since its discovery in New York, this has become a crisis that has spread as far as Pennsylvania and Virginia, including nine states.
Without immediate research funding to identify causes and solutions, extinctions are likely, even among species that are now widespread and abundant. American bats have never faced so dire a threat.
Without immediate intervention, this could spread across the U.S. and Canada, creating an ecological catastrophe. Like birds by day, bats are primary predators of insects that fly at night, including many of our most devastating agricultural and forest pests.
Yet the federal response to White-nose Syndrome has been limited at best, with woefully insufficient support for research. Bat Conservation International (BCI), the National Speleological Society and several other non-governmental organizations have provided emergency research funds from private donors, but the need far exceeds the resources. On May 27-28, 2009, BCI will host a professionally-facilitated Science Strategy Meeting to help leading scientists from relevant disciplines to reach consensus on the seriousness of this threat and to recommend research and conservation priorities. BCI and its scientist colleagues would be happy to participate with any congressional hearings or other actions regarding WNS.
The threat of WNS is enormous and imminent. We urge you and your colleagues to support significant funding for well-targeted, peer-reviewed research into this potentially devastating disease before the damage becomes irreversible.
Regards,
badriyaz for bringing this up:"As you may be aware, bats have been dying by the thousands in the northeastern US of what has been called White Nose Syndrome. Researchers are making some good inroads into figuring this out, but government help will be needed to put that research into action. Behind the cut is a letter provided by Bat Conservation International that can be sent to your congressperson and senators. They generally have contact forms on their websites, making sending the letter very easy. White Nose Syndrome has been spreading fairly dramatically every year as bats from sick colonies migrate during the spring/fall and mingle with bats from previously healthy colonies. Already entire colonies have been lost. Anyway, please help bats. They helped you look cool through your goth phase (and perhaps still do), the least you can do is help them survive."
Dear Senator/Congressperson:
I am writing to urge your support for immediate Congressional hearings on White-nose Syndrome (WNS), a mysterious ailment that is killing hundreds of thousands of bats in the northeastern U.S. Fatalities at affected cave roosts often exceed 95%, and in just four winters since its discovery in New York, this has become a crisis that has spread as far as Pennsylvania and Virginia, including nine states.
Without immediate research funding to identify causes and solutions, extinctions are likely, even among species that are now widespread and abundant. American bats have never faced so dire a threat.
Without immediate intervention, this could spread across the U.S. and Canada, creating an ecological catastrophe. Like birds by day, bats are primary predators of insects that fly at night, including many of our most devastating agricultural and forest pests.
Yet the federal response to White-nose Syndrome has been limited at best, with woefully insufficient support for research. Bat Conservation International (BCI), the National Speleological Society and several other non-governmental organizations have provided emergency research funds from private donors, but the need far exceeds the resources. On May 27-28, 2009, BCI will host a professionally-facilitated Science Strategy Meeting to help leading scientists from relevant disciplines to reach consensus on the seriousness of this threat and to recommend research and conservation priorities. BCI and its scientist colleagues would be happy to participate with any congressional hearings or other actions regarding WNS.
The threat of WNS is enormous and imminent. We urge you and your colleagues to support significant funding for well-targeted, peer-reviewed research into this potentially devastating disease before the damage becomes irreversible.
Regards,
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2009-04-30 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-04-30 07:38 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2009-04-30 10:09 pm (UTC)This post has also kind of tempted me to buy or build a bat house, though I'll have to figure out where to put it first, to make sure it'll get enough sun to warm it!
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Date: 2009-04-30 11:21 pm (UTC)If there's any particular items you had you eye on, if you want to let me know, I'd be happy to reserve them for you (they'll be half off!).
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Date: 2009-05-01 02:09 am (UTC)!
Is it still available? Half off is a deal! :D
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Date: 2009-05-01 02:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 09:54 pm (UTC)Looking forward to your sale..... I'll see what I can do to boost a fellow artist's economy. ;}
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Date: 2009-04-30 11:19 pm (UTC)I remember we had bats flying around at the first Atrocities photo shoot... it was pure magic!
I do wish people who malign bats would realize just how much they do to control insect populations. I'll take a bat over thousands of mosquitos anyday!
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Date: 2009-05-01 12:50 am (UTC)Also, thanks for posting regarding the WNS. I worked as a bat biologist throughout college conducting species surveys and roosting sites and I am a former educator and zookeeper at the Organization for Bat Conservation(wonderful, dedicated group of people and a great facility, I encourage people to look at them in addition to BCI, they need the help)Im heading off to vet school so I am now doing bat rehab primarily. I have been preparing for WNS to head into Florida soon and rest assured bat rehabbers are brainstorming on ways to combat the disease on an individual basis and some who are faced with cases in the northeastern states have had success!. It's scary and the plight of several fragile species of bats are hanging in the balance as a whole. THANK YOU for posting this and putting it out there. The researchers need money desperatly.
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Date: 2009-05-01 01:20 am (UTC)It is worrisome how quickly this has been spreading amoungst the bat population ~ it definitely appears to be heading southwards at an alarming rate. Goodness knows we need them to help keep the insect population in check ~ especially in the more humid, Southern climes (in addition to just adoring them anyway). Thank you for doing the work you do ~ it's much appreciated. It's especially heartening to hear that there's been some level of success in New England, I hope the mystery can be solved, and the bat population will find a way to thrive and come back from this soon.
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Date: 2009-05-01 02:31 am (UTC)Too bad I don't have enough mammal and disease studies to try and help with research during my environmental science schooling. It sounds like a serious problem!
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Date: 2009-05-01 07:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 08:42 pm (UTC)The word is getting out!
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