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--Boundary_(ID_5ateEbfH2CMzSLsIRgkatA) Content-type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Yesterday's Globe and Mail had a very similar or identical story by =20 the same author, and there was a good PHOTO showing the "white nose" =20 symptom, with the following caption: PHOTO: The disease decimating bats in the U.S. northeast is likely =20 related in some way to a white fungus observed around the noses of =20 roughly half the bats in Hailes Cave in New York State. NORTHEAST =20 CAVE CONSERVANCY Begin forwarded message: > From: Dusan Soudek <soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca> > Date: March 22, 2008 8:55:44 AM ADT > To: NatureNS <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> > Subject: [NatureNS] "Disease killing bats by the thousands," from =20 > today's Herald > Reply-To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca > > Disease killing off bats by the thousands > > By ANDY BLATCHFORD The Canadian Press > Sat. Mar 22 - 4:46 AM > MONTREAL =97 Wildlife scientists are scouring deserted mines in =20 > southern Quebec for traces of a deadly disease decimating bat =20 > populations in the U.S. northeast. > > Thousands of cases of an illness American wildlife officials call =20 > white-nose syndrome have popped up in grottoes and abandoned mines =20 > in a half-dozen U.S. states. > > White-nose syndrome often leaves behind skinny, dehydrated corpses =20 > that appear to have had their snouts dunked in a bucket of flour. > > As U.S. wildlife specialists scramble to determine how many bats =20 > are infected with the previously unknown disease, Quebec biologists =20= > fear it might have crept north of the border. > > "If we have this (disease), it could really threaten populations =20 > because there are huge mortality rates in the United States," said =20 > Jacques Jutras, a biologist with Quebec=92s wildlife department. =20 > "They=92re dying by the tens of thousands." > > U.S. officials estimate a 50 to 90 per cent mortality rate among =20 > bats with the syndrome. They don=92t know if humans can contract the =20= > disease. > > "This, I hope I can say, is a once-in-a-lifetime event," said Susi =20 > von Oettingen, an endangered species specialist with the U.S. Fish =20 > and Wildlife Service. > > "We=92ve never seen anything like this before with our bats, much =20 > less any other mammals, with a very large regional die-off." > > Quebec wildlife scientists recently looked over hibernating bats in =20= > two abandoned mines on the outskirts of South Bolton, Que., near =20 > the Vermont border. > > Preliminary results revealed no signs of the disease but the =20 > department plans to study dead specimens that were collected. > > Two other mines are scheduled for inspection next week, with one =20 > quest requiring biologists to strap on snowshoes and trudge through =20= > seven kilometres of deep drifts to the entrance of one of the =20 > caverns, said Robert Patenaude of Quebec=92s wildlife department. > > "It=92s the first time something like this has ever happened, and =20 > this really has taken everybody by surprise because it=92s not just =20= > one cave, it=92s been seen in a lot of different sites," Patenaude =20 > said of the U.S. discoveries. > > The disease was first documented in New York in the winter of =20 > 2006-07, but U.S. wildlife officials only realized the depth of its =20= > impact with a series of checks on hibernation caves that began =20 > earlier this winter. > > Scientists have since found the disease in Vermont, New Hampshire, =20 > Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. > > Last year, between 8,000 and 11,000 bats =97 more than half the local =20= > wintering population =97 died of the illness in the Albany, N.Y., =20 > area, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. > > This year, biologists and cavers have reported signs of white-nose =20 > syndrome in at least 18 winter roosting sites in New York, Vermont =20 > and Massachusetts, said von Oettingen. > > She said dead and dying bats were found unusually far from the =20 > safety of their caves in the middle of winter. > > "Most of these bats have very low fat reserves, which means they=92ve =20= > been using their energy during hibernation and they=92re basically =20 > starving," she said. > > "They are actively trying to find food and drink but they=92re doing =20= > it at the wrong time of year." > > Several species have been afflicted with the illness, including the =20= > federally endangered Indiana bat, von Oettingen said. > > She said bats, which are insectivores in Quebec and the U.S. =20 > northeast, play a key role in the food chain. > > --Boundary_(ID_5ateEbfH2CMzSLsIRgkatA) Content-type: text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252 Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable <HTML><BODY style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; = -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Yesterday's Globe and Mail had a = very similar or identical story by the same author, and there was a good = PHOTO showing the "white nose" symptom, with the following = caption:<DIV><BR class=3D"khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><FONT = class=3D"Apple-style-span" face=3D"Verdana">PHOTO: The disease = decimating bats in the U.S. northeast is=A0likely related in some way to = a white fungus observed around the noses of roughly half the bats in = Hailes Cave in New York State.=A0 NORTHEAST CAVE = CONSERVANCY=A0=A0</FONT><BR><DIV><BR><DIV>Begin forwarded = message:</DIV><BR class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE = type=3D"cite"><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: = #000000"><B>From: </B></FONT><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" = style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">Dusan Soudek <<A = href=3D"mailto:soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca">soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca</A>></F= ONT></DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: = #000000"><B>Date: </B></FONT><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" = style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">March 22, 2008 8:55:44 AM = ADT</FONT></DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: = #000000"><B>To: </B></FONT><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" = style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica">NatureNS <<A = href=3D"mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca">naturens@chebucto.ns.ca</A>></F= ONT></DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" = size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica; color: = #000000"><B>Subject: </B></FONT><FONT face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" = style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica"><B>[NatureNS] "Disease killing bats by = the thousands,"<SPAN class=3D"Apple-converted-space">=A0 </SPAN>from = today's Herald</B></FONT></DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; = margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><FONT = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" color=3D"#000000" style=3D"font: 12.0px = Helvetica; color: #000000"><B>Reply-To: </B></FONT><FONT = face=3D"Helvetica" size=3D"3" style=3D"font: 12.0px Helvetica"><A = href=3D"mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca">naturens@chebucto.ns.ca</A></FONT>= </DIV><DIV style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: = 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV> <SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; = border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; = font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: = normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; = -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; = -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; = white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV><FONT = face=3D"Arial" size=3D"2"><FONT face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3"><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman; = ">Disease killing off bats by the thousands</SPAN><BR = style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman; "><FONT = class=3D"Content_Sub_Headlines"></FONT><BR style=3D"font-family: Times = New Roman; "><FONT class=3D"byline"><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman; ">By ANDY BLATCHFORD The Canadian = Press</SPAN></FONT><BR style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman; "><FONT = class=3D"byline"><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: = Times New Roman; ">Sat. Mar 22 - 4:46 AM</SPAN></FONT><BR = style=3D"font-family: Times New Roman; "></FONT><FONT = class=3D"Content_body-links"><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "></SPAN><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">MONTREAL =97 Wildlife scientists are scouring deserted mines in = southern Quebec for traces of a deadly disease decimating bat = populations in the U.S. northeast.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: = Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; ">Thousands of cases of an = illness American wildlife officials call white-nose syndrome have popped = up in grottoes and abandoned mines in a half-dozen U.S. = states.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; ">White-nose syndrome often leaves behind skinny, = dehydrated corpses that appear to have had their snouts dunked in a = bucket of flour.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: = 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; ">As U.S. wildlife specialists scramble to determine = how many bats are infected with the previously unknown disease, Quebec = biologists fear it might have crept north of the border.</SPAN></P><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">"If we have this (disease), it could really threaten populations = because there are huge mortality rates in the United States," said = Jacques Jutras, a biologist with Quebec=92s wildlife department. = "They=92re dying by the tens of thousands."</SPAN></P><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">U.S. officials estimate a 50 to 90 per cent mortality rate among bats = with the syndrome. They don=92t know if humans can contract the = disease.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; ">"This, I hope I can say, is a once-in-a-lifetime = event," said Susi von Oettingen, an endangered species specialist with = the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: = Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; ">"We=92ve never seen = anything like this before with our bats, much less any other mammals, = with a very large regional die-off."</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: = Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; ">Quebec wildlife = scientists recently looked over hibernating bats in two abandoned mines = on the outskirts of South Bolton, Que., near the Vermont = border.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; ">Preliminary results revealed no signs of the disease = but the department plans to study dead specimens that were = collected.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; ">Two other mines are scheduled for inspection next = week, with one quest requiring biologists to strap on snowshoes and = trudge through seven kilometres of deep drifts to the entrance of one of = the caverns, said Robert Patenaude of Quebec=92s wildlife = department.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; ">"It=92s the first time something like this has ever = happened, and this really has taken everybody by surprise because it=92s = not just one cave, it=92s been seen in a lot of different sites," = Patenaude said of the U.S. discoveries.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family:= Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; ">The disease was first = documented in New York in the winter of 2006-07, but U.S. wildlife = officials only realized the depth of its impact with a series of checks = on hibernation caves that began earlier this winter.</SPAN></P><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">Scientists have since found the disease in Vermont, New Hampshire, = Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.</SPAN></P><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">Last year, between 8,000 and 11,000 bats =97 more than half the local = wintering population =97 died of the illness in the Albany, N.Y., area, = according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.</SPAN></P><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">This year, biologists and cavers have reported signs of white-nose = syndrome in at least 18 winter roosting sites in New York, Vermont and = Massachusetts, said von Oettingen.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: = Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; ">She said dead and dying = bats were found unusually far from the safety of their caves in the = middle of winter.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: = 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; ">"Most of these bats have very low fat reserves, which = means they=92ve been using their energy during hibernation and they=92re = basically starving," she said.</SPAN></P><P style=3D"font-family: Arial; = font-size: 10px; "><SPAN class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: = Arial; font-size: 10px; ">"They are actively trying to find food and = drink but they=92re doing it at the wrong time of year."</SPAN></P><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">Several species have been afflicted with the illness, including the = federally endangered Indiana bat, von Oettingen said.</SPAN></P><P = style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; "><SPAN = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; = ">She said bats, which are insectivores in Quebec and the U.S. = northeast, play a key role in the food chain.</SPAN></P><BR = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"></FONT></FONT></DIV></SPAN></BLOCKQUOT= E></DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>= --Boundary_(ID_5ateEbfH2CMzSLsIRgkatA)--
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