Park Cave Tour Programs Are Off the Agenda
The highly popular Buggytop Cave Tour and other park cave visitation tours are off the schedule for the time being due to serious issues with the health of bat populations in the Eastern USA from white-nose syndrome.
Hibernating bats in the northeastern United States are dying in record numbers, and we do not know the cause of the deaths. This wildlife health crisis, white-nose syndrome, is named for the
white fungus evident on the muzzles and wings of affected bats. This affliction was first documented at four sites in eastern New York in the winter of 2006-07. Subsequently, photographs taken in February 2006 show apparently affected bats at an additional site.
WNS has rapidly spread to multiple sites throughout the northeast. Researchers associate WNS with a newly identified fungus (Geomyces sp.) that thrives in the cold and humid conditions characteristic of the caves and mines used by bats. The fungus could be responsible for the bat deaths, or it could be secondary to the cause.
Bats affected with WNS do not always have obvious fungal growth, but they may display abnormal behavior within and outside of their hibernacula (caves and mines where bats hibernate during the winter).
It is believed that WNS is transmitted primarily from bat to bat. There is a strong possibility that it may also be transmitted by humans inadvertently carrying the causative agent from cave to cave on their clothing and gear. A result of this second possibility is that Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has recommended the closing of all caves on public lands to human visitation.
So far, WNS has not been obverved in Tennessee but the need for caution to protect our bat populations necessitates the need for the closures.
State agencies agreed to close all caves on public property in response to a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service advisory asking for a moratorium on cave visitations in WNS-affected states and adjoining states. The Nature Conservancy has also agreed to follow the state’s lead to close all caves located on Conservancy property.
Hibernating bats in the northeastern United States are dying in record numbers, and we do not know the cause of the deaths. This wildlife health crisis, white-nose syndrome, is named for the
white fungus evident on the muzzles and wings of affected bats. This affliction was first documented at four sites in eastern New York in the winter of 2006-07. Subsequently, photographs taken in February 2006 show apparently affected bats at an additional site.
WNS has rapidly spread to multiple sites throughout the northeast. Researchers associate WNS with a newly identified fungus (Geomyces sp.) that thrives in the cold and humid conditions characteristic of the caves and mines used by bats. The fungus could be responsible for the bat deaths, or it could be secondary to the cause.
Bats affected with WNS do not always have obvious fungal growth, but they may display abnormal behavior within and outside of their hibernacula (caves and mines where bats hibernate during the winter).
It is believed that WNS is transmitted primarily from bat to bat. There is a strong possibility that it may also be transmitted by humans inadvertently carrying the causative agent from cave to cave on their clothing and gear. A result of this second possibility is that Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has recommended the closing of all caves on public lands to human visitation.
So far, WNS has not been obverved in Tennessee but the need for caution to protect our bat populations necessitates the need for the closures.
State agencies agreed to close all caves on public property in response to a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service advisory asking for a moratorium on cave visitations in WNS-affected states and adjoining states. The Nature Conservancy has also agreed to follow the state’s lead to close all caves located on Conservancy property.
Labels: Buggytop Cave Tours
posted by Ron Castle @ 5:13 PM
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