Forest Service to Close Caves in 33 States to Halt Bat Fungus (bats are the new bees 500k dead)

NashVegas

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Sat May-02-09 10:15 AM
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Forest Service to Close Caves in 33 States to Halt Bat Fungus (bats are the new bees 500k dead)

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/forest_service_to_close_thousa.html

The U.S. Forest Service is preparing to close thousands of caves and former mines in national forests in 33 states in an effort to control a fungus that has already killed an estimated 500,000 bats.

Forest Service biologist Becky Ewing said an emergency order was issued last week for caves in 20 states from Minnesota to Maine. A second order covering the Forest Service's 13-state Southern region should be issued later this month.

The sites will be closed for up to a year, she said.

The orders follow March's request by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for people to voluntarily stay out of caves in 17 states.

Bats have been dying at alarming rates from what scientists call "white-nose syndrome," so-named because it appears as a white powder on the face and wings of hibernating bats. The problem was first spotted in New York and within two years has spread to caves in West Virginia and Virginia.

This is scary.

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geckosfeet

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Sat May-02-09 10:26 AM
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1. Bees are a little better this spring where I am. I first heard about the bat fungus last year.

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annabanana

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Sat May-02-09 10:30 AM
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2. Interesting... fruit bats do pretty much the same thing that bees do.

. . spreading stuff around and function in the reproductive cycles of plants..

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jus_the_facts

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Sat May-02-09 10:33 AM
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3. ...and they eat a ton of mosquitos...west nile virus is a menace down here every summer now....

...we need the bats. :(

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Octafish

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Sat May-02-09 10:40 AM
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4. Hope it never will be humanity's turn to be the next bees.

The only ones to survive will be cockroaches and invitees to Cheney's undisclosed redoubt.

"Mein F�hrer, I can valk. IF I vanted to."

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Mojorabbit

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Sat May-02-09 11:08 AM
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5. This is so sad

They reproduce so slowly that it will take a long time to rebuild their numbers. I hope they can figure out how to stop this thing.

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hedgehog

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Sat May-02-09 11:32 AM
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6. If nothing else, this will keep people from disturbing hibernating bats.

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bluedawg12

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Sat May-02-09 11:48 AM
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7. I am glad we are leaving the bats in peace. Our bee family returned this spring.

Our bee family returned this spring and are happily buzzing around the yard in their little furry bee outfits. :)

We have a bat house we plan on hanging. Hopefully it will attract some bats to a safe home.

We have been putting bird seed out all winter and the yard is full of life and song ( and chubby squirrels).

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