The Habitat Acquisition Trust is asking for many eyes on the ground to report dead bats or any sightings of winter bat activity as the deadly white-nose syndrome arrives on the West Coast.
The trust, in collaboration with the provincial government, has launched the Southern Vancouver Island Community Bat Program, a citizen-scientist program to monitor winter bat activity.
Local bats are at risk of contracting white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease responsible for the deaths of more than six million bats in eastern North America since it was first confirmed in 2006. The disease has pushed some bat species to the brink of extinction.
The bats are infected by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. The white, fuzzy fungal growth on the faces or wings of bats gives the disease its common name. The growth causes them to wake early from their hibernation. Without their usual food sources to sustain them, they dehydrate, starve and eventually die. It has a near 100 per cent mortality rate for some species of bats.
The disease has recently been confirmed in King County in Washington state, just 150 kilometres south of the border.
There is no known treatment for the disease. Although devastating for bats, the disease has no effect on humans.
“We are encouraging the public to report dead bats or any sightings of winter bat activity to the Community Bat Program’s toll-free phone number, website or email,” said Paige Erickson-McGee, bat stewardship co-ordinator for the Habitat Acquisition Trust.
“Bat carcasses will be submitted for testing for white-nose syndrome and would provide the earliest indication of the presence of the disease in B.C.”
The reports will help focus research, monitoring and protection efforts.
“We believe that our bats hibernate in relatively small groups across the province,” said Erickson-McGee. “Detecting white-nose syndrome in our province will require many eyes on the ground.”
The typical first sign of this disease is bats flying during the winter, an unusual sighting at a time of year when bats should be hibernating. Another sign of the disease is the appearance of dead bats outdoors as they succumb to the effects of syndrome.
The Southern Vancouver Island Community Bat Program is funded by the Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation, Forest Enhancement Society of B.C., the province of B.C., Habitat Stewardship Program and Lush Cosmetics.
If you find a dead bat, contact the program at 1-855-922-2287 or [email protected] as soon as possible for further information.
Never touch a dead bat with your bare hands. Please note that if you or your pet has been in direct contact with the bat, you will need further information regarding the risk of rabies to you and your pet.
• For more information, go to bcbats.ca.
