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Evan Gehring wrote:"Hey we are here and ready to help"
driggs wrote:TO COMBAT BAT-KILLING DISEASE
wyandottecaver wrote:containment between colonies *is* possible, although not certain or easy. It's called culling. you just have to do your best to make sure bats from colony A dont ever reach colony b,c, d, etc. Thats not exactly what the release was getting at I suspect, though it leaves the door open.
I wont speak for Peter, but it is reasonable to agree that human transport may be possible.
Agreeing that it is probable, or has in fact already occurred, or even that it is likely enough to warrant investigation resources is another matter. If your standing on an anthill with no visible ants while being attacked by a pitbull which threat do you address? In this analogy, we so far have been trying to stomp out the ants that *might* be there and ignoring the pit bull at our throat. The NSS statement says we need to deal with the pitbull first.
As far as doing the science...to some degree it is being done. We know that bats can get WNS from previously infected caves without infected bats being present. We know that WNS remains in soil and *might* remain viable. Hazel has apparenty cultured WNS from intentionally infected caver gear. But most studies will just tell us yes or no or maybe.
What we need is an assesment of risk. But there is the rub. At this point, are we willing to take several "clean" caves (both bat and non bat) and have people do increasing numbers of trips under different conditions from WNS caves to them and record the results? It would be a great study. But not likely to happen. You can replicate conditions to some degree in a lab, and we could do that, but until you do it out in the dirt under real conditions you wont really know.
Peter, is this release intended to also serve as the revised WNS policy Statement, or is it a seperate document?
DanHenry wrote:I'm afraid we shouldn't ask the questions if we're not willing to hear the answers. I seems some cavers want absolute proof of the human vector, and I'm afraid if you push hard enough, someone will find this proof. Proving this, however doesn't really do anything to solve the main problem, being the bat to bat transmission, how it started and how it can be stopped. It could however provide the opponents of cave access a solid peice of evidence to use against us.
For now, it's simply prudent to acknowledge that humans *could* be a minor vector and take appropriate steps, like decontamination, to reduce the risk from human spread by cavers specifically. Sticking our heads in the sand and refusing to believe the human vector could ever be true, and thereby refusing to decontaminate, makes us look like nutcases, and we will be percieved as a liability by those who make decisions about cave closures and other management decisions.
If you're looking for the human vector to be 100% disproven, and that is the point of clamoring for proof, I think it unlikely it will prove out that way, and it may backfire on you.
Obviously humans have transported it before. How do you think they got it in the lab to study it in the first place?
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