White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

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White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby Andy » Feb 15, 2013 2:02 pm

February 15, 2013

FRANKFORT, Ky. – White-nose syndrome, a disease deadly to hibernating bats, has been found in caves at Carter Caves State Resort Park and Kingdom Come State Park.

White-nose syndrome (WNS) was first identified in New York in 2006 and has rapidly spread throughout the eastern United States and Canada. The disease is caused by a newly discovered fungus and has killed millions of bats since its discovery. There is no known cure for white-nose syndrome and biologists believe it is being spread by infected bats. The disease does not pose a threat to people, pets, or livestock.

Since the first documented case in Kentucky in April 2011, biologists have discovered 25 likely infected or confirmed WNS sites, spanning the state from Trigg County in the west to as far east as Carter and Letcher counties.

Bats with the disease were found recently at Carter Caves, near Olive Hill, in caves that are not open to the public. The three caves where bats with the disease were found are Bat, Saltpetre and Laurel Caves, which were closed in 2008 as part of the effort to stop the spread of the fungus causing the disease.

Carter Caves is home to about 40,000 Indiana bats, which are federally endangered. The majority of those are found within Bat Cave, which is also part of the Bat Cave State Nature Preserve.

The Kentucky State Parks require guests who take tours in two caves at Carter Caves State Resort Park to disinfect their footwear and to not wear clothing that has been worn in other caves. These steps, begun in the fall of 2011, are intended to limit the spread of the disease, which disrupts bats while they hibernate in the winter, leading to starvation or dehydration. The name comes from the appearance of white fungus that grows on the muzzle and other body parts of hibernating bats.

Carter Caves plans to continue conducting public tours of Cascade and X-Cave.

A bat with the disease also was found in January at Line Fork Cave at Kingdom Come State Park during a routine cave survey. The cave is gated and not open to tourists. This cave is in Letcher County, located inside the 225-acre Kingdom Come State Park Nature Preserve and is home to the federally protected Indiana bat.

Earlier this year, officials at Mammoth Cave National Park in south-central Kentucky announced that white-nose syndrome had been found in a cave at that park.

The spread of white-nose syndrome through Kentucky is significant because of the untold thousands of bats that hibernate in the state’s vast network of caves. Bats play a key role in the health of our ecosystems. They are the primary predators of night-flying insects, consuming forest and agricultural pests. An analysis published by Science magazine showed that pest-control services provided by insect-eating bats save the U.S. agricultural industry at least $3 billion annually.

WNS has been found in the following counties in Kentucky: Bell, Breckinridge, Carter, Christian, Edmonson, Hart, Letcher, Trigg, Warren, and Wayne.

http://migration.kentucky.gov/newsroom/ ... ks2013.htm
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby PYoungbaer » Feb 15, 2013 3:21 pm

The three caves where bats with the disease were found are Bat, Saltpetre and Laurel Caves, which were closed in 2008 as part of the effort to stop the spread of the fungus causing the disease.


Well, that didn't work. :tonguecheek:

Pardon my snark, but the endless reports of WNS from caves closed to protect against the spread just underscores the failure of that management tactic. It's time - long past time - to abandon it.

That said, the reports of WNS coming already this winter - North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Prince Edward Island, Virginia - don't bode well. In this release, the highlighting of the 40,000 Indiana bats I find important. This year is one of the biennial Indiana bat survey years. How they do in places like Kentucky and Indiana this year will be very telling for the long-term health of their populations. Will they be hard-hit, as in New York? Or will they continue to show resistance as in West Virginia? I think this will be a very informative year.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby BrianC » Feb 15, 2013 7:15 pm

:shrug:
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby PYoungbaer » Feb 16, 2013 9:47 am

Here's the most updated WNS map:

Imageclick image to enlarge
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby BrianC » Feb 16, 2013 10:06 am

The Turtle is winning! :tonguecheek:
The average turtle can walk at three to four miles per hour, though remember, this is the average for all species.

Read more: How Fast Does a Turtle Run? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_4548527_how-fas ... z2L4i9rhKM
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby Andy » Feb 16, 2013 10:50 am

Here's the most updated WNS map:


I don't see Carter County, KY marked as a WNS site on this map.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby PYoungbaer » Feb 16, 2013 12:27 pm

That's correct. The map had been prepared a couple days ago. It also doesn't yet show P.E.I. At this time of year, it's not unusual to get a couple maps a week. I expect we'll see both on the next version.

For those unfamiliar with Carter County, KY, it's in the northeast corner of the state.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby Crockett » Feb 16, 2013 9:58 pm

Letcher County, Ky. is also not yet shown. Maybe next week. Even when Line Fork was open it was rarely visited. Same with nearby Green Cave, which is a key bat preserve and an indicator of what to expect. It is owned by a coal company...irony.

Thanks Peter for emphatically stating that cave closures for WNS are bad management. I'll do it too. Cave closures for WNS are bad management. Any cave managers tuned in? Wake up.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby MUD » Feb 17, 2013 6:29 am

Crockett wrote:Thanks Peter for emphatically stating that cave closures for WNS are bad management. I'll do it too. Cave closures for WNS are bad management. Any cave managers tuned in? Wake up.

:doh: As I've been saying since the start of Mother Nature's bat smack!
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby BrianC » Feb 17, 2013 9:51 am

Cavemud wrote:
Crockett wrote:Thanks Peter for emphatically stating that cave closures for WNS are bad management. I'll do it too. Cave closures for WNS are bad management. Any cave managers tuned in? Wake up.

:doh: As I've been saying since the start of Mother Nature's bat smack!


I agree with you Mud, What I don't understand is, What has changed for someone to make that statement at this point in time as opposed to using the knowledge at the onset of the WNS tragedy? I understand biology enough to see that the first signs, and first few years of WNS did show an absolutely negative impact of humans interacting with the caves cavers have always explored. Is the money finally running out? Does the public outcry now dictate the right thing? I am not confused, but would like a relatively useful answer. :tonguecheek:
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby Crockett » Feb 17, 2013 8:09 pm

I guess I have some perverse sense of ownership regarding caves on Pine Mountain so I'll pop off about management policies in this forum topic but it's not like I think my opinion will really make any difference. Closing caves for WNS as a blanket management strategy has been a refuge for the ignorant and/or fearful. Some public land managers have taken a different approach, allowing reasonable entry and using that to establish more baseline data and generally monitor and protect caves. Many "closed" caves have been open by permit for defined purposes and many cavers have quietly taken advantage. Some managers have encouraged and facilitated permitted entry. The closed cave lists are for those cavers who can't find a more sophisticated way to recreate and get themselves in...but some caves and cave areas should just be open or at least not closed just because of WNS.

Green Cave is arguably the most important bat cave in Kentucky and it is not managed at all, yet there live all those bats, without the benefit of a manager or a closure or the oversight of a gigantic government bureaucracy.

I think USFW should throw money at the NSS and beg for widespread comprehensive cave monitoring programs, putting cavers into caves doing speleology...but I know that hoping for support for a volunteer citizen based nonprofit interest group solution is futile, they will continue to send money over to the lawyers who sue them for a living because they live and die by the regulatory sword.

So you haven't heard much from me about cave closures because I don't like to waste my time but I will take time to express my opinion upon the bat plague arriving at my home...it's probably the frustration and grief over the loss.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby BrianC » Feb 18, 2013 10:28 am

Crockett wrote:I guess I have some perverse sense of ownership regarding caves on Pine Mountain so I'll pop off about management policies in this forum topic but it's not like I think my opinion will really make any difference. Closing caves for WNS as a blanket management strategy has been a refuge for the ignorant and/or fearful. Some public land managers have taken a different approach, allowing reasonable entry and using that to establish more baseline data and generally monitor and protect caves. Many "closed" caves have been open by permit for defined purposes and many cavers have quietly taken advantage. Some managers have encouraged and facilitated permitted entry. The closed cave lists are for those cavers who can't find a more sophisticated way to recreate and get themselves in...but some caves and cave areas should just be open or at least not closed just because of WNS.

Green Cave is arguably the most important bat cave in Kentucky and it is not managed at all, yet there live all those bats, without the benefit of a manager or a closure or the oversight of a gigantic government bureaucracy.

I think USFW should throw money at the NSS and beg for widespread comprehensive cave monitoring programs, putting cavers into caves doing speleology...but I know that hoping for support for a volunteer citizen based nonprofit interest group solution is futile, they will continue to send money over to the lawyers who sue them for a living because they live and die by the regulatory sword.

So you haven't heard much from me about cave closures because I don't like to waste my time but I will take time to express my opinion upon the bat plague arriving at my home...it's probably the frustration and grief over the loss.


This interest is useful and seems accurately in the direction cavers are taking. Closing caves (other than major bat caves, for use with special permit), has never, and will never achieve any conclusive slowing of WNS.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby ohiocaver » Feb 20, 2013 3:44 pm

On the same line, Mammoth Cave National Park no longer requires visitors to splash through the boot bath on the way into the cave. This was supposed to help prevent WNS. Seems all the disinfectant used to de-con was being tracked into the cave and doing harm to all the other biota in the cave.
And, yes, WNS is in MCNP -- ironically in one of the caves that is closed and off limits to all but certain elite researchers. So how did it get there?
Cavemud and Crockett are right - closure is bad management. Simply intellectual arrogance on the part of managers who feel that they can out-think Mother Nature.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby Crockett » Feb 20, 2013 5:33 pm

I said closing caves for WNS as a blanket management strategy is bad. You shortened that a bit. I was praising the NPS managers, among others, for making more reasonable decisions.
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Re: White-Nose Syndrome Found at Two Kentucky State Parks

Postby PYoungbaer » Feb 20, 2013 6:50 pm

On the same line, Mammoth Cave National Park no longer requires visitors to splash through the boot bath on the way into the cave. This was supposed to help prevent WNS. Seems all the disinfectant used to de-con was being tracked into the cave and doing harm to all the other biota in the cave.


Curt,

This is news. Do you know when they stopped? Are they still having people walk on the biomats afterward?

Questions aside, I'm glad they stopped. I've always been concerned about unnecessarily exposing the caves and cave critters to some of these chemicals. I've repeatedly raised this issue in the non-WNS-affected regions, where it makes no logical sense to me that local cavers, bat biologists, or anyone else entering a non-infected cave and coming from a non-infected area should decon. Cleaning your gear, absolutely. A best practice wherever you are.
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