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Apr. 21, 2011
Biologists from Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources have confirmed that white-nose syndrome has been found in a cave in Garrett County. This marks the third documented case of the disease in Maryland.
WNS is a disease causing unprecedented bat mortality across the eastern United States. Affected bats display a white fungus on their muzzles or other exposed skin. The discovery was made in a cave which serves as an important winter shelter, or hibernaculum, for hundreds of bats.
“This is the second new infected site we’ve documented this year,” said Dan Feller, DNR Western Region ecologist. “We now have positive sites in all three Maryland counties with bat hibernacula.”
A survey by volunteer biologists from Frostburg State University, working under the direction of the DNR, discovered the newly infected population. Three little brown bats and one tricolored bat submitted to the U.S. Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center tested positive for WNS.
At an infected site discovered last year in Allegany County, virtually all of the bats were dead, a level of devastation consistent with other affected sites in the Northeast. WNS was found in Washington County last month.
“We’re relieved that our surveys found several important hibernating sites still unaffected, including one of the largest populations of eastern small-footed bats remaining in the United States,” said Feller. “With the spread of this disease having been fast and unrelenting, the future of these sites is uncertain.”
WNS is a disease that has spread across mines and caves in 14 states and two Canadian provinces, killing more than a million bats. It was first observed at Howe Cave near Albany, N.Y., in 2006. WNS is caused by a newly discovered cold-weather fungus, geomyces destructans.
Under the direction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an international, interagency team is mobilizing in an attempt to slow the spread of the disease and find a cure.
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