State: Bats wiped out at Strafford-area mine
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Published: September 24, 2009
STRAFFORD —As bats have started returning to caves and mines this fall, state and federal biologists have seen what appears to be complete devastation of the bat population at a Strafford-area mine from the effects of white nose syndrome.
Biologists with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department have been monitoring bats as they return to their fall and winter home, state officials said Wednesday.
"Once considered the second largest bat hibernacula in Vermont, and maybe New England, this mine appears to have lost nearly its entire bat population," Scott Darling, wildlife biologist for the department said.
It's a stunning reminder of the deadly effects of the white-nose syndrome, the bat disease that has killed up to 95 percent of bats in Vermont, state Fish & Wildlife officials said.
"The near absence of any bats during our annual survey was so astounding that I had to return a few nights later to confirm this tragedy," Darling said.
Since 2002, bat biologists have monitored bat activity at Elizabeth Mine every September when bats "swarm" at the mine opening before the enter hibernation, officals said. As recently as 2006, more than 950 bats were captured by department biologists in a three hours survey, officials said.
Two weeks ago, only one bat was captured in a survey using the same methods for two and half hours by state and federal biologists, officials said. White nose syndrome was first seen at Elizabeth Mine, in late winter 2008 when sick bats were seen flying out in the daylight. Substantial numbers of the state-threatened small bat is also found there.
"The results at Elizabeth Mine are a wake-up call that this disease is having swift and dramatic effects on this region's bat populations," Darling said. The disease has spread through the northeast and south to southwestern Virginia, he said. "The time to address this issue on a national level is now."
— Staff reports
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