UPDATE: White Nose Syndrome Confirmed in Critical Cave

UPDATE:  Biologists from the West Virginia DNR and US Fish and Wildlife Service say their worst fears are now confirmed. One of the most important bat caves in West Virginia, the Hellhole Cave in Pendleton County, is infected with White Nose Syndrome.

The tell-tale white markings on the snout of a hibernating bat.

Biologists this week visited the cave which harbors nearly 13,000 Indiana and 5,000 Virginia Big-Eared bats. Both species are eon the endangered species list. The cave supports over 40-percent of the Virginia Big-Eared bats in the entire world. It’s a privately owned cave and is closed to the public.

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During a typical year, the West Virginia DNR would be nearly finished with its mid-winter bat survey by this time.  However, this hasn’t been your typical year.   Snowfall has made accessing many of the remote mountain caves where the bats winter a difficult proposition.   More importantly however, DNR Biologist Craig Stihler says they are deliberately waiting to visit some caves because of "white nose syndrome."

"White nose is more evident later in the winter," said Stihler. "We want to make sure by the time we go in the case if we don’t see white nose, we’re pretty confident it’s not there."

So far DNR biologists have surveyed only one cave which was in Tucker County. Stihler says that one was clear of the ailment.  He’s not as optimistic about other caves in the state.    White nose was discovered in West Virginia for the first time last year and he fears it has spread.

"We’ve had bats flying out of some caves in the middle of winter, during the day, during a snowstorm," said Stihler. "That’s not typical behavior and that’s some of the signs we’ve seen up north."

The condition causes bats to use of their reserve body fat and forces them to go on the hunt of food.

"They’re literally starving to death," Stihler laments. "It’s hopeless for them, but they’re flying out in the middle of the day."

Last year the mysterious ailment was first detected in Pendleton County.  Stihler suspects this year it will be discovered in caves further south in Greenbrier and Mercer Counties since it has been found in caves just across the Virginia border.  

The cause of the fungal condition is not known.   The spread is believed to be from bat to bat, but human carriers can also play a role.  The DNR recommends people refrain from caving in different spots and to always thoroughly clean their gear before going to a new location.

The discovery of white nose in Pendleton County is particularly troubling to Stihler.   Pendleton County has the largest concentration of Virginia Big Eared bats on earth.   It’s believed fewer than 20-thosand of the bats already exist and with the onset of white nose syndrome, there’s a serious threat to their future.

"We have two-endangered bat, the Indiana bat and the Virginia Big Eared," said Stihler. "There’s a possibility that bat could go extinct."

The threat isn’t that grave for the rest of the bat world, but Stihler says there are concerns for the widespread bat populations.

"If we were to lose hundreds of thousands of common bats, that’s hundreds of thousands that won’t be out there feeding on insects," he theorized. "We don’t know what to expect, we’ve never faced anything like this, but when you take a predator out of the insects we would expect populations to increase."