Mysterious bat disease hits Conn.

 

White-nosed syndrome — a mysterious disease that has decimated bat populations in New York state — has spread to Connecticut. The state Department of Environmental Protection announced Friday that they have found bats afflicted with the disease in a hibernating area in northern Litchfield County — one of eight places where the DEP monitors bat populations.

“I was holding out some hope we wouldn’t see it in Connecticut,” said DEP wildlife biologist Jenny Dickson. “But we checked this site on Wednesday and found it.”

The disease — also found in Vermont and Massachusetts — is called white-nosed syndrome because the a white fungus grows on the noses of the bat afflicted with the disease. But scientist have no idea whether the fungus growth causes the disease, which may kill 80 percent of the bats in some caves in New York state, or whether its simply one of several symptoms associated with the disease.

The disease is causing a huge worry among environmentalists because bats are, by far, the best predators of night-time insects in nature.

“People think of things like mosquitoes, but it’s much broader than that,” Dickson said. “Bats control agricultural pests and insect pests that can damage the forests.”

By Robert Miller STAFF WRITER: News Times.com