White-nose Syndrome

WNS Latest: View - BCI’s Position Statement on cave closures and White-nose Syndrome. White-nose Syndrome has moved into Tennessee. This broadens the range of WNS to ten states, bringing it ever closer to our largest hibernating colonies of endangered Indiana, gray, Virginia big-eared and Ozark big-eared bats. Read the Nature Conservancy press release here.

White-nose Syndrome has caused “the most precipitous wildlife decline in the past century in North America,” according to biologists. It has devastated bat populations across the northeastern United States during the past four years. BCI is working with agencies, organizations and individuals to understand and stop WNS and begin restoring these decimated bat populations.

Since WNS was discovered in a New York cave in February 2006, an estimated million or more hibernating bats of six species have been killed by the disease in ten states.

Mortality rates approaching 100 percent are reported at some sites. The disease moved beyond the Northeast last winter, reaching into West Virginia, Virginia, and now Tennessee.  It threatens some of the largest hibernating caves for endangered Indiana myotis, gray myotis, and Virginia big-eared bats.  Ultimately, bats across North America are at imminent risk.

Handy Documentation

View - White-nose Syndrome FAQ's sheets now available in English (update will soon be available in Spanish).

View - Read our latest WNS newsletter.