As you folks are aware there is a fungus that is spreading rapidly across the northeast US that is wiping out winter bat populations that are normally found in caves and mines alike.

The fungus does not appear to be harmful to humans or other animals, but it is possible for spores to be transported site-to-site on your clothes.

If you approach a mine entrance and see dead bats scattered around, bats flying, or bats clustered in the first few hundred feet of the mine, mostly likely this is a WNS site. A rather large number of people are studying this problem not only around the country but now even internationally. Please contact me with site location info so that the situation can be documented, or report it to your state wildlife agency.

For recent WNS maps, info, photos, even a video, and message boards with the latest WNS tidbits and wild speculation, see:

http://www.batmanagement.com/wns/wns.html

If someone lives around Wilkes-Barre/Scranton or north side of Pittsburgh and would like to "check up" on some entrances to known bat mines to monitor for WNS outbreaks let me know.

John Chenger

Fortunately we have not seen this at any mine sites but will be sure to let you know and have the site properly reported if we come across any WNS sites. Thanks John.

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

We have evidence now that WNS is in our major bat mines throughout the anthracite region. While the actual number of known sites is still small, 4 as of this writing, they are spread enough and the sites are significant enough that the reality is that WNS is probably everywhere in that region.

To help prevent WNS from spreading so rapidly to other regions, please observe the decon protocols located here:

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/whitenosemessage.html

For general WNS info see;
http://www.batmanagement.com/wns/wns.html
and the related links on that page.


Please report any mine location with bats dead/dying around the entrance zones. Feel free to report anonymously if necessary.
Thanks
jchenger @ (remove these spaces) batmanagement.com

Has anyone actually seen any of this in person yet? Pete?

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This ain't longwall... this is long hole!

i haven't noticed any bats deceased outside of mines, but in a few mines, I have seen some dead on the floor. They were too far gone to tell if they had WNS, but I've never seen dead bats on the floor before in mines.

Miner Greg

The mysterious deaths of millions of bats in the United States and Canada over the past several years were caused by a fungus that hitchhiked from Europe, scientists reported Monday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46996215/ns ... e-science/

Thanks for sharing this important development Miner. As early as October of last year (see viewtopic.php?f=2&t=21959), it was suggested that the fungus Geomyces destructans was thought to be responsible. Bats in Europe harboring this fungus were discovered to be living healthily whereas the bats with it in North America were dieing off. I suppose now there is finally a consensus. Thanks.

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

Another update and take notice of the pic/caption on the left.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/health-science/bats-might-be-rebounding-1.1302700#axzz1sdLCaGD8

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Eat more Tasty Kakes

Let's hope this is an indication that the bats can build resistance to white nose syndrome, if only overtime. Now let's just wait to see if bat populations start to rise in other mines in New York and New Jersey, where the disease first spread.

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"If you thought old, abandoned mines were only in the west, then you haven't been to IronMiners.com!"

if all the bats die we are F**ked. I haven't seen it yet but I always triple wash my stuff before going back out.

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I like deep dark wet holes...in the ground that is.

White nose syndrome is pretty much all over the east now. My are is known as TAG (Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia) in the caving world. We have more caves in this part of the country than anywhere else. There are a lot of caves that are closed because of WNS. One cave called Fricks cave was home to the rare Eastern Gray Bat. The cave was only open one day a year when the bats had migrated. There are some studies showing that some bats in this area are surviving WNS so the ones who do survive will propagate and the species will evolve to be immune to the fungus. Sort of a what doesn't kill you makes you stronger thing.

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May all those who have gone before us have a carbide lamp with an eternal flame.