Colorado Naturalist Blames Cavers for WNS

[PYoungbaer]

Here's the latest news story from the Vail Daily, also reprinted on the Walking Mountains Science Center website:

http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20110924/NEWS/110929901/1078&ParentProfile=1062

Key sentence: "It has been observed that human transmission has been the #1 way for the fungus to spread from cave to cave."

Guess they didn't pay attention to our nearby convention this summer. I have written a lengthy comment to the author on the Science Center website asking for an apology and correction on the website and in the media.

[DeanWiseman]

.
.
"The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion."

-Quote from Michael Crichton's "Airframe"

[Anonymous_Coward]

"The problem with internet quotes is that they can be very difficult to authenticate"

--Abraham Lincoln

[PYoungbaer]

Good News: the Walking Mountain Nature Center has issued a correction and sent the same to the Vail newspaper:

UPDATE: It has been brought to our attention that this “Curious Nature” article contains a few errors. Walking Mountains Science Center wishes to correct and clarify. The presented information that “it has been observed that human transmission has been the number one way for the fungus to spread from cave to cave” is incorrect. Since the discovery of White Nose Syndrome (WNS) in the U.S. in the winter of 2006-2007 research has been inconclusive that humans play a role in the spread of the fungus that causes WNS. Through research it is now certain that the primary vector for the spread of the fungus Geomyces destructans is bat to bat, with the secondary vector being from cave to bat. While there has been suspicion of human assistance to the spread of the fungus in instances with long-distance jumps, none have been directly tied to the work of visitors to caves. We apologize to our readers for this misinformation and for any confusion this may have caused.

The author’s statement that: “Until we can learn more about white nose syndrome, caves will remain closed in the Rocky Mountain region and foothills including Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas” lacked the clarification that the author was referring only to caves and abandoned mines on US Forest Service Lands. This closure is not applicable to commercial or privately owned caves. Again, any confusion this may have caused was unintentional.... Thank you to Richard Rhinehart, Editor of Rocky Mountain Caving and Peter Youngbaer, White Nose Syndrome Liaison at the National Speleological Society for bringing these errors to our attention.

[Anonymous_Coward]

[DeanWiseman]

Way to go, Peter! (and anyone else who got the Editor's attention)





-Dean

[LukeM]

[icave]

Thank you Peter...Besides, we all know that WNS is spread through Microsoft Outlook.

[Teresa]

Thank you Peter...Besides, we all know that WNS is spread through Microsoft Outlook.

Darn it. I knew it! Thanks for the confirmation, icave.