FWS estimates Bat Death Toll Exceeds 5.5 Million From WNS

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Re: FWS estimates Bat Death Toll Exceeds 5.5 Million From WN

Postby tncaver » Jan 24, 2012 8:01 am

My opinion after reading the above linked article is:
The methods used to estimate bat deaths is completely flawed. It was stated that bat deaths were estimated for the entire country based upon current known deaths in the East and Northeast. The East and Northeast is the area of highest bat mortality while other parts of the
country have little to no bat deaths. Since most of the US has had no bat deaths (the WEST, Midwest and South), that is a flawed method. Canadian bat deaths were also included in the estimate and that is not US land. Almost all numbers were estimates based on a flawed method or perhaps I should say lack of accurate data. Basing those numbers on mostly one part of the country (the Northeast and Canada)
is a total failure to acknowledge the zero bat death rates in other parts of the country that have high numbers of bats.

I would also like to say there is no evidence that closing caves to humans has done anything to stop WNS. WNS goes where bats go ONLY IF the conditions are right for it's spread, and obviously conditions are not right in a large part of the US. Again I reiterate that cavers have continued to enter caves in the South and WNS has not devastated the South like it has in the Northeast. Closing caves to cavers is doing nothing to stop WNS. WNS has spread along bat migration routes at a normal migratory rate rather than a rate that would correspond to caver travel between areas. In fact, closing caves to cavers is creating a bat data vacuum which makes accurate reporting limited to impossible.

Once again the entire WNS issue really does appear to be about power, control and money. There are truly some greedy people in this
world. :sad:
tncaver
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