White-Nose Syndrome Confirmed in Nebraska Bats

By Ammoland Editor Joe Evans

LINCOLN, Neb. -(Ammoland.com)- White-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that affects hibernating bats, has been confirmed in Nebraska.

The disease was confirmed after several dozen dead bats were discovered during a recent survey of a mine in Cass County.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, confirmed the disease in three bats from the mine – a little brown bat, a northern long-eared bat and a tri-colored bat.

Nebraska is the 30th state to confirm the presence of white-nose syndrome, which has killed more than 6 million bats since 2006. Additionally, the disease has been confirmed in five Canadian provinces.

“Finding bats with white-nose syndrome in Nebraska emphasizes the need to develop and implement new tools to manage the spread and reduce the severity of the impacts of this devastating disease,” said Jeremy Coleman, national white-nose syndrome coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission first began monitoring for Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, in 2014. Pd was first detected it in the state in 2015 on bats sampled from another mine in Cass …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand