By ANDREW W. GRIFFIN

Oklahoma Watchdog, editor

Posted: May 19, 2010

andrew@oklahomawatchdog.org

OKLAHOMA CITY — A University of Oklahoma student, using a “mist net,” used by biologists to capture bats and birds, caught a bat in a Woodward County cave earlier this month that appeared to be sick, according to Nels Rodefeld, chief of information and education at the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Department.

The sick bat – a cave myotis – was sent to the US Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center to be tested.

“They tested it and it tested positive for Geogyces destructans,” Rodefeld said, referring to a destructive fungus that is associated with white-nose syndrome, which had not been seen in bats west of the Mississippi River.

There are reports that white-nose syndrome has been discovered in April in bats in the Missouri Ozarks.

White-nose syndrome, first detected in bats in the northeastern United States in 2006, has spread westward. Over a million bats are believed to have succumbed to the disease, which features a white ring of fungal growth on the muzzles and wings of affected bats.

Rodefeld wanted to emphasize that the afflicted bat, found in northwestern Oklahoma, did not test positive for white-nose syndrome, but instead had the “genetic markers” for the disease.

“It is still undetermined if it has white-nose syndrome,” Rodefeld said, adding, “The bat may not have white-nose syndrome.”

More testing is being conducted on the bat and other bats in this particular cave, in the James Selman cave system, will be tested.

“There are a lot of unknowns with this particular (disease),” Rodefeld said, noting that the method of transmission of the disease is still unknown, although it appears that it spreads among hibernating bats. In the case of the Woodward County bat, it was active and eating.White-nose syndrome does not infect other animals or human beings.

While Rodefeld did not know much about the cave in question, an email received by Oklahoma Watchdog, from Dixie Birch, with the Oklahoma Ecological Services field office in Tulsa wrote that she discussed with Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation director Richard Hatcher that the Woodward County cave may need to be closed to human access.

“Our biggest concern is for our bat population,” Rodefeld said. “Bats are an important part of the ecological food chain and food web. They eat insects, moths … agricultural pests.”

Rodefeld said ODWC would release more information on their findings concerning the sickened bat later this week.

Copyright 2010 Oklahoma Watchdog