New Jersey Warns Spelunkers - Stay Out Of Caves Until We Know What's Killing The Bats

New Jersey officials warned the public Monday to stay out of caves and mines with hibernating bats until they know more about a mysterious disease outbreak that has killed thousands of the creatures in New York and Vermont.

"White nose syndrome" -- named for the fungus it leaves on affected bats -- hasn't been found in New Jersey so far. But the disease killed 11,000 bats in upstate New York last year, and more bats are showing signs of the illness this year. Wildlife biologists are scurrying for answers.

"Until experts fully understand how and why bats in other states are dying, and whether it's possible for people to carry this mysterious illness from one cave to another, it is best to take precautions," Lisa Jackson, New Jersey's environmental protection commissioner, said on Monday.

To date there have been no signs the illness can affect people, though its ultimate implications for humans are unknown, the state said. In the coming weeks, state biologists plan to visit New Jersey's largest known colony of hibernating bats, the Hibernia mine in Rockaway Township.

EDIT

http://www.northjersey.com/environment/15297631.html

those suckers would have to eat a lot of bats

I was in an old iron mine just over the NJ border in NY over the weekend. There were maybe a dozen bats. They didn't look too healthy.

environmental chemicals we have been spewing for decades, and now some threshhold of tolerance has been passed.........