I have examined many bats from the on going bat mo...

2008-02-27T00:48:00.000-05:00

I have examined many bats from the on going bat mortalities in New York state. As the state wildlife pathologist with 38 years of experience I have seen starvation in many species of wildlife, and the gross and histopathology is typical of death from starvation.
The bats have emaciated carcasses
with exhausted subcutaneous , abdominal cavity, and perirenal fat
supplies.The bats appear to have lost about 55-60 percent of their body wight when they are dying in February. Many of the freshly dead bats appear to be dehydrated.It is important to note that the majority of the bat cacasses to date don't show fungal growth or lesions. On the ones that do it appears that the fungus is acting much more like a commensal than a
pathogen. Only two cases of mycosis were found, so far, where fungal growth was present in the living parts of the skin.In the rest the fungus was limited to growing on the very outer keratinized layer. Tissue reactions were scant in the two mycosis cases and seemed non existent in most bats with the "white snout syndrome." We have also watched little Brown bats rapidly clean the cottony fungal growth from there faces following arousal from a torpid state.I would postulate the the growth of saprodes on skin of bats has gone on for eons of time . It isn't surprising to me that saprodes would grow at times on largely immobilized torpid or hibernating bats especially on starving bats with suppressed immune systems.It appears the the fungus of "white snout" continues
to grow on the carcasses post mortem. We have identified three fungal genera on the bats' skins with Fusarium being most commonly isolated so far.
We found some parasies in and on the bats but none can account for the starvation state. Chlorinated hydrocarbon screens and elemental analyses are underway ,in a large part, to see if they could play a secondary role in suppressing the immune systems.There is no histopath ology to suggest a viral pathogen cauueing this now fairly wide spread and multihibernicula mortality.
My diagnosis based on my studies to date in the eastern region of New York is starvation resuting from climate change that has kept bats flyig durig fall, winter and early spring periods when insects are in short supply to almost nonexistent in the air.Many starving bats are out seeking prey during warmer parts of a day and take shelter in more exposed aras than the caves or mines from which the came. Exposure to freezing temperatures for hours to a few days is the Coup de grace for these moribund bats. Exacerbateing the bats weather related problems of the last two years is a shortage of many moths in eastern New York. It doesn't seem surpriseing that starvation could be the primary problem. Let's hope the weather and insect populations are changing in favor of the bats. But it is likely that in the comeing years that global warming will
be a challenge to bats and other northeastern wildife. With so many starving bats in eastern New York and nearby areas extra efforts should be made to not disturb them so that more will survive the winter.

Comments on Alfred Snider: Bats Dying from "White Nose Syndrome"

I have examined many bats from the on going bat mo...