Tell the Feds: Don't Sell Out Vanishing Bats
- by: Center for Biological Diversity
- recipient: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bowing to pressure from Big Industry and political cronies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now considering weakening protections for northern long-eared bats and allowing unrestricted logging in bat habitat— putting these bats at risk of disappearing forever.
Northern long-eared bats have been decimated by the fungal disease "white-nose syndrome." This fungus ingests the skin of hibernating bats causing them to wake in the winter, burning precious reserves of fat. Infected bats starve or die as they come out of hibernation and their newly awakened immune systems go into lethal overdrive.
The disease has killed nearly 7 million bats in the United States and Canada since 2006.
In the Northeast, northern long-eared bats have declined by up to 99 percent. Weakening protections for them now and allowing logging in bat habitat will further harm a species already under assault by a deadly fungus.
Tell the Service to stop playing politics with the survival of a species – protect northern long-eared bats as "endangered."
Northern long-eared bats have been decimated by the fungal disease "white-nose syndrome." This fungus ingests the skin of hibernating bats causing them to wake in the winter, burning precious reserves of fat. Infected bats starve or die as they come out of hibernation and their newly awakened immune systems go into lethal overdrive.
The disease has killed nearly 7 million bats in the United States and Canada since 2006.
In the Northeast, northern long-eared bats have declined by up to 99 percent. Weakening protections for them now and allowing logging in bat habitat will further harm a species already under assault by a deadly fungus.
Tell the Service to stop playing politics with the survival of a species – protect northern long-eared bats as "endangered."
Dear [Decision maker],
I'm writing to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the northern long-eared bat as endangered.
[Your comment will be added here]
White-nose syndrome has already devastated this species, and the disease is likely to spread throughout northern long-eared bat range as it sweeps the continent — probably in the short to medium term.
No effective treatment has been found for white-nose syndrome, and new science on the characteristics of the pathogenic fungus indicates that it may be even more resilient and persistent in bats' subterranean habitats than previously thought. And northern long-eared bats have a very low reproductive rate: Even if individuals develop resistance to this malady — and there's no evidence of this yet — the rate of recovery will be very slow. These imperiled bats need strong conservation and recovery measures.
The loss of such a large portion of northern long-eared bats' global population due to white-nose syndrome highlights the need to address and minimize other threats — direct and indirect. Other sources of harm include human disturbances at caves and mines; habitat loss and degradation due to logging, mining, fracking, development and highway construction; pesticides; water pollution; and wind energy. These threats need to be minimized in the parts of the northern long-eared bat's range that are still free from white-nose syndrome, as well as places where the disease has already spread. The small, isolated populations still unaffected by the malady may very well be the last hope for the species, and the government needs to make sure those populations have the full protection of the Endangered Species Act, rather than allowing potentially harmful activities there to continue.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Sign PetitionSign PetitionI'm writing to urge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the northern long-eared bat as endangered.
[Your comment will be added here]
White-nose syndrome has already devastated this species, and the disease is likely to spread throughout northern long-eared bat range as it sweeps the continent — probably in the short to medium term.
No effective treatment has been found for white-nose syndrome, and new science on the characteristics of the pathogenic fungus indicates that it may be even more resilient and persistent in bats' subterranean habitats than previously thought. And northern long-eared bats have a very low reproductive rate: Even if individuals develop resistance to this malady — and there's no evidence of this yet — the rate of recovery will be very slow. These imperiled bats need strong conservation and recovery measures.
The loss of such a large portion of northern long-eared bats' global population due to white-nose syndrome highlights the need to address and minimize other threats — direct and indirect. Other sources of harm include human disturbances at caves and mines; habitat loss and degradation due to logging, mining, fracking, development and highway construction; pesticides; water pollution; and wind energy. These threats need to be minimized in the parts of the northern long-eared bat's range that are still free from white-nose syndrome, as well as places where the disease has already spread. The small, isolated populations still unaffected by the malady may very well be the last hope for the species, and the government needs to make sure those populations have the full protection of the Endangered Species Act, rather than allowing potentially harmful activities there to continue.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
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