Do you like bats?

[alonewiththemoon]

Bats need your help!  As you may be aware, bats have been dying by the thousands in the northeastern US of what has been called White Nose Syndrome.  Researchers are making some good inroads into figuring this out, but government help will be needed to put that research into action.  Behind the cut is a letter provided by Bat Conservation International that can be sent to your congressperson and senators.  They generally have contact forms on their websites, making sending the letter very easy.  White Nose Syndrome has been spreading fairly dramatically every year as bats from sick colonies migrate during the spring/fall and mingle with bats from previously healthy colonies.  Already entire colonies have been lost.  Anyway, please help bats.  They helped you look cool through your goth phase (and perhaps still do), the least you can do is help them survive.

Dear Senator/Congressperson:

 

I am writing to urge your support for immediate Congressional hearings on White-nose Syndrome (WNS), a mysterious ailment that is killing hundreds of thousands of bats in the northeastern U.S. Fatalities at affected cave roosts often exceed 95%, and in just four winters since its discovery in New York, this has become a crisis that has spread as far as Pennsylvania and Virginia, including nine states.

 

Without immediate research funding to identify causes and solutions, extinctions are likely, even among species that are now widespread and abundant. American bats have never faced so dire a threat.

 

Without immediate intervention, this could spread across the U.S. and Canada, creating an ecological catastrophe. Like birds by day, bats are primary predators of insects that fly at night, including many of our most devastating agricultural and forest pests.

 

Yet the federal response to White-nose Syndrome has been limited at best, with woefully insufficient support for research. Bat Conservation International (BCI), the National Speleological Society and several other non-governmental organizations have provided emergency research funds from private donors, but the need far exceeds the resources. On May 27-28, 2009, BCI will host a professionally-facilitated Science Strategy Meeting to help leading scientists from relevant disciplines to reach consensus on the seriousness of this threat and to recommend research and conservation priorities. BCI and its scientist colleagues would be happy to participate with any congressional hearings or other actions regarding WNS.

 

The threat of WNS is enormous and imminent. We urge you and your colleagues to support significant funding for well-targeted, peer-reviewed research into this potentially devastating disease before the damage becomes irreversible.

 

Regards,