"The Worst Wildlife Disease Outbreak in North American History"

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
a reply to: WhiteAlice

Thanks for that information, I stand corrected.

I don't understand how anyone can look at our collective actions post industrial revolution and think we have another 150 years left on this planet. The last 150, heck the last generation, has caused so much damage.

You're welcome. We're brewing up trouble on multiple fronts with our current status quo. Declining resources, pollution, habitat loss, desertification--the list of things that we are doing that is hastening this planet into an early grave is pretty long when it comes to industrialization. As a biologist and an accountant, I see so many flaws in the way the industrial world works and behaves from that strange perspective. For instance, one of the current accounting procedures to maximize efficiency is to have a factory operating at capacity regardless if one is going to sell all the wares created. Think about that and consider that this is a very common accounting procedure. It's tremendously wasteful and even more so when you look at the bulk of the rubbish that we create in those factories as a collective humanity overall. We need to get smarter about what we create, what we deem to be efficient and what we consume overall. If we don't, I cannot see it as being anything but our own undoing.

On our parts, we have truly become a disposable society and although many areas across the US have wide scale recycling programs, we're still failing to consider that we still lose some of those resources in the recycling process and not everywhere has such things. We consume far too much with an emphasis on quantity over quality and that is something that has been a distinct attitude shift over the last couple decades. Previous generations were a lot more frugal. Heck, my grandfather maintained and cared for the same pair of boots for roughly 40 years til his passing. Industries aren't going to want you to do that though so many goods are of a lower quality nature where something is made for obsolescence so that the customer has to come back and buy a new one after a bit. Not to mention it's driving so many into profound debt. Our grandparents had savings. Many people these days have credit card bills.

It's all going to come up and bite us hard in the ass eventually. We do stupid things, we're going to get burned. Nature isn't very forgiving.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Not sure if related to the bat shortage.
Some kind of mayfly bug is out in swarming the steetrs of jersey.

You'll be pleased to know than, that although our area suffered from WNS and bats all but disappeared from the property for several years, they seem to be making a come back. Last year it was down to just one and this year I spotted two adults (one much larger) and two pups flying around the pond. They seem to prefer lightening bugs but do help out a bit with these other pests. Sure wish there were more of them. Maybe next year with any luck.

For reference: Northeast, Pa.

ETA: They come out at dusk same with the lightening bugs. The little one has an evening ritual of catching fireflies and setting them free. I'll bring out the Canon and try to catch a few shots.

I'm not a vet or medical practitioner of any kind so this may seem like a silly question, however...

I know that bats rely heavily on radar, any chance the disease is connected to wifi signals?

a reply to: schadenfreude

I wouldn't be suprised if it was.
Just like the bee's, the invisible wi fi could be dangerous for them that rely on their own invisible navigation system.
How are fish doing now a days anyway? Have we disturbed any dolphins yet?

Bees
Bats


Pretty easy to understand that this is a push for GMO's.

These Micro Chiroptera ( the smaller bats which We are talking about ) use echolocation, which is a "sonar" base guiding system...i.e... sound waves that bounce back to paint a picture for navigation when dark. Bats can see, some very well...possibly better than humans ( that's why They have Eyes, think about it. ) WNS, I believe is occurring during torpor
( hibernation ) so, to answer "schadenfreude" question ( & a good question at that. ) ... the fungus is not created or spread because of Their or Our sonar systems but rather a mutated strain of fungi which could be of Our doing.

S & F. I didn't know this, and as I said in another thread I love bats. . We have a couple of bee hives too...
We rely on the bats to help keep the mosquitoes down because we can't (and WON'T) spray Deet because it will kill the bees. Not to mention our free range chickens.

I wouldn't be surprised that the white fungus disease started out in some lab somewhere for something completely different, then mutated.

Yes, it's funny how it's usually the stuff that We come up with is that which We end up with the least understanding of and control over! a reply to: Lolliek

originally posted by: ketsuko
Right now, the bats in this area are under a different threat: rabies. There have been at least four confirmed cases with two coming after having bitten people.

bats have always been the major source of rabies infections in domestic animals. Bat bites account for many cases of rabies in our dogs who are not vaccinated. en.m.wikipedia.org...

It's a fungal disease. How could WiFi cause a fungus? a reply to: schadenfreude

If the bats are dying during hibernation that means they are not flying around. The article states pretty clearly and several times that this fungus is affecting colonies of hibernating bats. a reply to: Taino

LOL does the little one carry a jar with holes in the lid? My kids always wanted to keep the fire flys but I made them set them free before they turned in. I love watching the bats fly around the street lights on a summer evening. a reply to: Rosinitiate

Could be linked to pesticides. They eat insects so.. maybe?

Do pesticides cause fungal outbreaks? I think pesticides kill bugs they don't feed fungus. a reply to: Arionic

a reply to: AutumnWitch657
Thanks for clearing that out.

originally posted by: AutumnWitch657
LOL does the little one carry a jar with holes in the lid? My kids always wanted to keep the fire flys but I made them set them free before they turned in. I love watching the bats fly around the street lights on a summer evening. a reply to: Rosinitiate

No jar, she catches them with her hands, shows them to me and let's them go. Sometimes she'll try to hold on to two so they can fly off together.

I actually saw a lot of bat activity yesterday evening. They came out on queue and were at least 4 in count. Hard to tell as they fly around so erratically and I'm surrounded by trees. I'm glad to see they are doing better, even the little pups aren't very small anymore.

I noticed ground zero doesn't seem to be far from me. I wonder how other areas are doing.

a reply to: loam

Where I live: no more bees, no more mosquitos, hardly any flies.
I'm in my 40's. This # is bad. I don't care what our dear governments say.

Thank you for posting this Loam, I was unaware the bats were in trouble.

I am a fan of most animals and creatures of this planet, bats play an important role. In the day guano was a huge commodity for fertilizer, and I dont see why we aren't still using their excreting services today.

I dont see many bats in urban WA but just got back from Indiana where I saw a few good sized brown bats, one was flopping around on a lawn in daylight. I dont remember seeing a white muzzle though.

The mortality rate of this disease "in some caves exceeding 90%". This tells me that this pathogen is not a good one. A good pathogen doesn't kill off their hosts to this degree.

This made me think that the pathogen, Pseudogymnoascus destructans was either modified or created in a lab, or much more likely it was introduced from somewhere else.

This fungus was only first detected in North America in 2006, but it has been known about in Europe.

European bats seem to be immune to this fungus. This looks to me like a new pathogen being introduced into an environment where it didn't exist before, and where the existing bats don't have a natural immunity yet.

The fungus appears to have been introduced to North America from Europe. It has been found on cave bats in 12 countries in Europe, where bats appear to be adapted to, and unaffected by, the fungus. Because bats do not travel between the continents, this strongly suggests the fungus was newly introduced to North America by people — likely cave visitors who transported it on their gear or clothing.

Source

What normally should happen is that a certain percentage (even if small) of the bat are naturally immune or will develop immunity. So while the short term looks bleak, the bat populations that are left will be more resistant and should start bouncing back. I don't know how long this could take, probably years.