Latest case of fatal bat disease found in Utah at Canyonlands National Park
This marks the first detection of the white-nose fungus in bats in Utah, but it has previously been confirmed in bats in surrounding states.
Bat species facing extinction due to deadly white-nose syndrome
FILE VIDEO: The northern long-eared bat population, which is currently classified as threatened, faces extinction due to the wide impacts of white-nose syndrome.
White-nose syndrome was found in bats that call Canyonlands National Park Needles district home, according to the National Park Service.
White-nose syndrome is tied to a fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) and can prove fatal in bats. The disease has killed millions of bats across North America and Canada. There is no cure for the disease, which has a 90% to 100% fatality rate at some sites in the U.S. Some species of bats are being pushed to extinction because of the disease.
According to the U.S. Department of Interior's White Nose Syndrome Response Team, the fungus was first detected in the U.S. in 2006, with more recent cases occurring in the Southwest and Washington. It has now been found in 40 states.
FILE PHOTO: A Little Brown Bat showing a close up of the nose with fungus in New York taken in Oct. 2008. (Credit: Ryan von Linden/New York Department of Environmental Conservation) (New York Department of Environmental Conservation)
This marks the first fungus detection in Utah bats, but it has previously been confirmed in bats in surrounding states.
It’s unknown how the Pd fungus got to North America, but the fungus spores can last a long time on clothing and shoes.
"So even though people do not get white-nose syndrome, we can unknowingly move the fungus from one place to another – the most likely way that Pd found its way to North America," according to the White Nose Syndrome Response Team.
According to the NPS, a sample collected in May confirmed the disease on a Townsend’s big-eared bat roosting in a mine at Canyonlands and in a sample collected from the floor of the same mine.
The Utah State Division of Wildlife Resources and partnering agencies will continue surveillance to understand the spread of the fungus and white-nose syndrome, according to the NPS.