Category: Bats

Hard to believe, but October is already here! And that can only mean one thing — bats! Everyday throughout the month of October, follow CWF on social media and our blog to fly high with these incredible creatures of the night! Each day we will have fun facts, quizzes, and beautiful photos highlighting these amazing animals and the work CWF does to protect them.

Our previous coverage included an overview of bats in New Jersey from our biologist, a look into the threats facing bats today, and a reality check on the myths and legends surrounding bats! Today we share some examples of ways you can get involved in our efforts to save bats in New Jersey.  Stay tuned next week to join CWF bat biologist Stephanie Feigin in the field!

Make sure to follow us everyday on Facebook and Twitter and read our blog every Friday for our #31daysofbats!

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By Julianne Maksym

With terrifying threats like White Nose Syndrome, bats face a tremendous fight for survival. Populations are declining worldwide at an alarming rate – some species are becoming so rare they are hardly ever seen at all.

Bats need all the help they can get and Conserve Wildlife Foundation (CWF) offers some simple ways to get involved and make a difference:

Building a bat house: This can create a safe and secure home for a colony of bats of up to 80 individuals. These houses provide the opportunity for bats to settle into a new roost before being evicted from a homeowner’s dwelling. The most ideal location to position a bat house is on the side of a building (where bats already roost) or on a pole in open space. The house should be set at a minimum of 12 feet off the ground facing south to southeast with early and direct sunlight. CWF is able to offer free bat houses in cases where bats are being evicted from a building. If interested in setting up a bat house please contact us, as we would like to monitor the process.

Summer Bat Count: During the hot summer months, we ask volunteers to participate in our annual Summer Bat Count. There are a total of four bat counts per summer – two between May 15 and June 21 (before pups can fly) and two more between July 6 and July 31 (when pups are flying and exiting the roost with their mothers). Making sure you do all four bat counts will allow us to best compare data from year to year and between sites. Previous yearly reports and current data sheets can be found at CWF’s ‘Summer Bat Count’ page.

Acoustic surveys: To aid in bat research across New Jersey, CWF purchased two AnaBat SD2 acoustic detectors for the purpose of studying echolocation and general bat behavior. Four bat detectors are now in circulation for use; volunteers now do most of our mobile acoustic surveys. Volunteers are assigned a 10-30 mile driving route in their local area to travel twice each summer after dark. Detectors can be mounted on vehicles and activated while driving at night, making them a pretty quick and easy way to get a lot of information – all without having to catch, hold, or even see a single animal. For more details please contact us, as there is currently a waiting list for the acoustic detectors.

Plant a night garden: Love bats and have a green thumb? Plant a night garden! In these sanctuaries, night-scented flowers are grown to attract bugs such as moths, which in effect provides an ample food source for bats. Plants such as white jasmine and evening primrose and herbs such as mint and lemon balm are great to start with. Plant oak or field maple trees to add some shelter and warmth to your garden. To get started on your green project, check out Back to Nature, an artisanal home and garden store located in Basking Ridge, NJ. *Note: 10% discount for CWF members.

Do not disturb bats during hibernation: A huge way in which to help maintain stable bat populations is to stay away from caves, roosts, or trees during hibernation season. It is important to not disturb a hibernating bat as any disruption to its sleep can result in early awakenings. It is estimated that a bat can burn up to a two weeks worth of fat reserves in each awakening which in turn can severely weaken and/or kill the bat. Whether you are outside hiking or just taking a stroll and encounter a roost, leave quickly and quietly!

Adopt a Species Program: Interested in adopting a bat? Check out CWF’s Adopt a Species Program for the Indiana Bat. Your symbolic adoption supports our efforts to protect New Jersey’s rarest animals, restore important habitat, and foster pride in New Jersey’s rich wildlife heritage. Adopting a Species also makes a great gift for a friend or loved one. Give the gift that gives twice!

Bats face an ever-present uphill battle due to both natural and unnatural causes. Populations are in desperate need of help! Whether it is building a bat house or a night garden or anything in between, every action you take in supporting these animals means we are one step closer in providing a stable world for them. Join CWF in volunteering your time, educating the public and most importantly, protecting our amazing bats!

Julianne Maksym is a graduate wildlife intern for Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey

Hard to believe, but October is already here! And that can only mean one thing — bats! Everyday throughout the month of October, follow CWF on social media and our blog to fly high with these incredible creatures of the night! Each day we will have fun facts, quizzes, and beautiful photos highlighting these amazing animals and the work CWF does to protect them.

The first week we gave an overview of bats in New Jersey with a news article written by CWF Wildlife Biologist MacKenzie Hall. Last week we discussed some threats bats face today. Today we will debunk myths about bats, and later this month we will give examples of ways you can help and CWF Wildlife Ecologist Stephanie Feigin will share some stories from the field!

Make sure to follow us everyday on Facebook and Twitter and read our blog every Friday for our #31daysofbats!

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by Sarah Bergen

Bats tend to have the reputation of being mysterious creatures of the night. The extent of most peoples’ interactions with bats is limited to a fleeting glimpse in the dark of the night. Because we do walk amongst these species, there is often a lack of understanding and even fear surrounding bats.

So let’s clear up some myths and misconceptions that are often associated with these creatures. Despite common beliefs that bats are blind, rabies-ridden bloodsuckers, they are actually an extraordinary mammal that is valuable to eco-systems all over the world. All bats in the United States are insectivores, and can eat up thousands of bugs in a single night. Because they control the populations of many pests, they are a priceless factor in agriculture, only to be replaced by harmful pesticides. A recent study published in Science magazine estimates that bats’ insect-eating services may be worth as much as $53 billion to US agriculture alone (click here to read about it).

• “Blind as a bat.” Not exactly. The assumption that all bats are blind is completely false. Many bats primarily use echolocation to locate their prey, since it can give them a much more accurate picture of objects and pray in complete darkness. In reality, most bats have very good vision, possibly even as sharp as a human’s 20/20 vision.
• Bats are not flying blood-suckers that may sweep into your bedroom and leave you lifeless in bed! In fact, the bats that inhabit the United States are completely harmless. Americans should not fear the bite of a bat or the contraction of rabies from the creatures because North American bats live off of insects and have no interest in sucking your blood. Studies show that less than 1% of bats contract rabies; rabid bats tend to become solitary and die quickly, and unlike raccoons, cats, dogs, and other animals, they rarely become aggressive.

In the countries that are inhabited by vampire bats, there are only three sanguivorous, or blood-drinking bat species, that inhabit Mexico, South, and Central America. Vampire bat species include the common vampire bat, the hairy-legged vampire bat, and the white-winged vampire bat. These three species are the only mammals on the planet that survive solely on blood. The rarity of this characteristic surely contributed to the fear that now surrounds them, which is only magnified by the many popular films that feature vampires.

But even those bloodsuckers do not usually target humans as their food source. These three species tend to prey on birds and sleeping cattle and horses. Contrary to how vampire bats are portrayed in films, they do not suck blood out of their prey, but instead lap it up with their long tongues for about 30 minutes. These species do not take enough blood to cause any harm to their prey, but they can spread rabies and other diseases and the development of infection is a possibility. Cattle industries in these countries are being negatively impacted, and scientists are working to find a solution.

Since the 1970s, efforts to control the spread of rabies through bats have focused on culling, or killing bats through the use of poison and even explosives. A poisonous paste is applied to a captured bat, which then spreads the paste among its colony through grooming after it is released. However, poison has been found to be unsuccessful by numerous studies because it only targets adult bats, many of which have developed immunity to rabies, and fails to affect juvenile bats, which are less likely to groom older bats, as well as develop immunity. A better alternative practice that does not involve the killing of innocent bats is the immunization of livestock. It has even been found that the revaccination of cows during pregnancy allows an immunity to develop in the calves.

Bats have developed a reputation as being creepy creatures of the night, but are, in reality, valuable to our eco-system and agricultural economy. As communities celebrate Halloween, and bats with sharp fangs decorate homes, be sure to remember the bright side to bats.

Sarah Bergen is a communications intern with Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey

Hard to believe, but October is already here! And that can only mean one thing — bats! Everyday throughout the month of October, follow CWF on social media and our blog to fly high with these incredible creatures of the night! Each day we will have fun facts, quizzes, and beautiful photos highlighting these amazing animals and the work CWF does to protect them.

Last week we gave an overview of bats in New Jersey with a news article written by CWF Wildlife Biologist MacKenzie Hall. Today we discuss some threats bats face today. Later this month we will debunk myths about bats, and share ways you can help!

Make sure to follow us everyday on Facebook and Twitter and read our blog every Friday for our #31daysofbats!

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by Stephanie Feigin

Despite the many environmental and economic benefits bats provide, bat populations around the world are still declining. Bats face many threats today, including habitat loss and destruction, human persecution, disturbance of hibernating bats in caves and mines, wind energy development, and White-nose syndrome.

Human activity and persecution are among the biggest factors in bat population declines worldwide. The forests bats use to roost and forage in have been destroyed at an alarming rate for timber, new farm land, cattle pastures, or housing developments. In the last 50 years 17% of the forests in the Amazon have been destroyed and converted to cattle pastures. Bats are also being driven out of their roosts in caves or mines due to careless tourism. Today, the most important caves and mines are now gated to keep tourists out and protect the bats from any human disturbance.

In winter, large numbers of bats gather to hibernate in the relative warmth of caves and mines. The bats go through incredible metabolic changes during hibernation.  Their heart rate slows from 1,200 beats per minute (in flight) to just 15-20 beats per minute, and their body temperature drops roughly in half to match the temperature underground. A little brown bat in torpor can actually go 48 minutes without taking a breath!

By slowing down, bats are able to conserve energy during the long winter without food.  But they’re very vulnerable during hibernation – a single arousal can cost a bat 2 weeks worth of fat reserves.  Too many disturbances can jeopardize their survival. Since bats reproduce slowly, usually only giving birth to one pup a year, disturbance to maternity roosts can also be very harmful to bat populations and it takes a long time for these populations to recover.

Bats have been misunderstood by humans for many years, and are still among the most persecuted animals on earth. In many parts of the world, bats are killed due to fear or harmful myths making bats seem scary or even dangerous. In Central America there have been numerous accounts of people destroying caves with the use of dynamite in attempts to kill vampire bats. However, many fruit-eating bats are also killed in the process by people who mistake them for vampire bats. Reportedly, 40,000 caves in Venezuela have been destroyed, resulting in the loss of large populations of other bats as well as other cave fauna.  In Australia, flying foxes, primarily the Grey Headed and Spectacled flying foxes, are shot by farmers to keep the bats from eating their fruit trees — even though there are more effective alternatives. Both the Grey-headed flying fox and Spectacled flying fox populations have declined by at least 95% in the past century. In certain locations, bats are also hunted for food or folk medicines.

Wind energy development poses a growing threat to bats. As wind farms crop up along the ridgeline corridors used by migratory bats, the number of bat fatalities grows. Hundreds of thousands of bats are killed each year in the United States from collisions with the spinning blades of wind turbines or because of rapid pressure change at turbines which can rupture their blood vessels. In the east, studies have found that an average of 46 bats are killed annually per wind turbine. Fortunately, research is showing that bat deaths can be tremendously reduced by simply shutting the turbines down during seasonal low-wind periods, when power generation is minimal anyway.

Perhaps the most significant cause of declining bat populations in our region is a disease called White-nose syndrome that continues to spread across the United States and Canada. White-nose syndrome was first discovered in upstate New York in 2006, and has since spread to 25 states and 5 Canadian provinces, killing over 6 million bats in the process.

The disease is caused by a cold-loving fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans or Pd. It attacks hibernating bats, disturbing them during hibernation when the bats’ immune response is low, and preventing them from conserving enough stored energy to survive until spring. White-nose syndrome also causes dehydration and unrest as well as severe wing damage that can prevent bats from flying.  At some sites, the mortality rates are 100 percent. Much is still unknown about White-nose syndrome, its spread, and its consequences. The federal government, states, several universities, and organizations like ours are working hard to track and understand this disease.

Though bats face many threats today, Conserve Wildlife Foundation continues to protect these incredible animals and educate the public about ways that you can help. Bats need our help!

Stephanie Feigin is a Wildlife Ecologist for the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey

Hard to believe, but October is already here! And that can only mean one thing – bats! Everyday throughout the month of October, follow CWF on social media and our blog to fly high with these incredible creatures of the night! Each day we will have fun facts, quizzes, and amazing photos highlighting these amazing animals and the work CWF does to protect them.

Today we will give an overview of bats in New Jersey with a news article written by CWF Wildlife Biologist MacKenzie Hall. Next week, we will discuss some threats bats face today. On the third week we will debunk some myths about bats, and for the final week in October we will share ways you can help!

Make sure to follow us everyday on Facebook and Twitter and read our blog every Friday for our #31daysofbats!

 

by MacKenzie Hall, CWF Wildlife Biologist

Bats are a fascinating group of animals. They’ve been flapping through the skies for more than fifty million years and are still the only mammals on Earth that can truly fly. They’ve conformed their diets, their homes, and their bodies to nearly every environment worldwide, with more than 1,200 species now spread across the planet. Some are tiny (the one-inch long Bumblebee Bat of Thailand is the world’s smallest known mammal), while others are quite massive (the wingspan of tropical Flying Foxes can reach six feet!). Poke around online to see some of their incredible diversity. Just skip over the Wrinkle-faced Bat if you want to sleep at night.

• Click here to read the full article
• Click here to learn more about CWF’s bat projects

By Dan Silvernail, Eagle Scout Candidate and Conserve Wildlife Foundation Volunteer

Bats don’t get enough credit. They fly around at night devouring thousands of mosquitoes and other unwanted insects. They reduce our need to use pesticides to protect crops and trees. Their droppings, or guano, can even be used as garden fertilizer.

Aside from their nightly all-you-can-eat buffet, they don’t have the easiest life. People needlessly fear them, believing myths that they all have rabies or want to fly into your hair! Over six million bats have been wiped out by a disease called White-nose Syndrome which attacks them while they are hibernating. Their natural forest habitat is often destroyed. When they find a nice building in which to live, they often get kicked out, leaving them in need of a tight, warm place to give birth and raise their young.

That’s where we can help. We can build these flying mammals nice summer homes where they can hang out with their babies. By creating narrow spaces inside the house, painting the outside a dark color and caulking up the sides to retain the heat, and roughening up the wood to make it easier for the bats to climb in, we give something back to the bats for sparing us hundreds more mosquito bites and playing an important role in our ecosystem.

That’s why I chose to put together bat house kits for my Eagle Scout Project and why you and your family can come to this weekend’s New Jersey Wild Outdoor Expo to help build them.

• When: Saturday, September 13 & Sunday, September 14, Noon and 2:00 PM
• Where: Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area, Jackson Township, New Jersey
• What: The workshops are free. Materials are available on a first come, first served basis.
• Children can do a lot of the work to build the house, so families are encouraged to do the project together.

The bat houses will be donated to Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey to put up before bats are evicted from attics, eaves, and buildings, so they can easily find a new place to roost. Stop by CWF’s table in the Conservation Tent to learn more about bats and other imperiled wildlife species. You can always pick up plans to buy materials and make bat houses on your own.

Please come show New Jersey bats some appreciation!

 

 

        

One summer evening, thrilled volunteers watched as over 350 big brown bats flew out of the peak of the historic Tranquility Church. CWF biologist Mackenzie Hall worked to safely rid the church of the large bat population, while still giving these bats a place to live.

During this project, Tranquility Church was very accommodating, Mackenzie installed 5 bat boxes on the back of the church, enabling the bats to still have a home. MacKenzie also performed bat acoustic monitoring surveys, which allow for documentation of the diversity as well as the abundance of bats in any given area.

There was also lots of support from the Antler Ridge volunteers, who helped install the bat boxes, and the wildlife rehabilitators from Mercer County Wildlife Center, New Jersey Bat Sanctuary, and Wildbaby Rescue, all of whom helped rehabilitate any pups that were found after falling from the attic.

 

• To read the full article and watch the video, click here.
• To learn more about CWF’s Bat Project, click here.
• For more information on how CWF assesses bat problems in the home, click here.
  
• To watch New Jersey News 12’s video on this project: “Bats in church attic find new roost,” click here.

NEW JERSEY’S STATUS REVIEW OF TERRESTRIAL MAMMALS HAS BEEN COMPLETED

By Michael Davenport, Marine Species & GIS Programs Manager

The state’s Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) has recently completed a status review of the state’s terrestrial mammal species.  As a result of this review, an additional four species (all bats) have been recommended for listing as Endangered in New Jersey (eastern small-footed myotis, little brown bat, northern myotis, and tricolored bat).  An additional four bat species (big brown bat, hoary bat, red bat, and silver-haired bat) and a rodent (the meadow jumping mouse) have been recommended for listing as Special Concern.  These additional listings are largely due to the impact of White-nose Syndrome, especially on cave-dwelling bats.  However, additional increasing threats, such as wind turbines, were also factors.

Although these status changes have been recommended, it may take several more months or even years before the changes to the lists are made official through a formal rule-making process.  The most recent status review for birds, for instance, was completed in 2005 but it wasn’t until 2012 that the status changes decided upon within that status review went into effect.

The process for determining a species’ state status is known as the “Delphi” method of species status review and it is a process which Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ (CWF) staff assists the state with.

The ENSP endeavors to complete a review of all species currently included on the Endangered and Nongame lists every 5-10 years.  In addition, other species groups not currently included on those lists may be reviewed for status as well.  At any given time, there may be several status reviews being conducted.

The first step taken in conducting a status review is to identify experts and invite them to participate as a member of a review panel.  Members of the panel may be comprised of experts within academia, government agencies, non-profits, or private consultants as well as others.

Once a sufficient number of experts have agreed to participate, staff within the ENSP and CWF will compile background material for the species being reviewed.  This may include reports, survey data, and data contained within the state’s Biotics database which is the electronic warehouse for all imperiled species data in New Jersey.  This background data, as well as a list of the species being reviewed, and definitions of the status options, are then sent to the panelists for Round 1 of the review.

Delphi reviews are comprised of multiple “Rounds”.  For each round, each panelist will choose a status for each species based upon that panelist’s expertise as well as the background material.  The panelist then sends their selections and justification regarding each species to ENSP or CWF staff who compile the results submitted by all panelists.  The review is completed anonymously, so the panelists do not know the identities of the other participants.

For each species, the panel must reach consensus of at 85% of the respondents for a species’ status to be determined.  If consensus is not reached during the first round, that species will move on to be reviewed in Round 2.  For each new round, the panelists’ status choices during the prior round, as well as all the comments made, are available to the panel, so that reviewers can consider the weight of evidence and other reviewers’ opinions on status as they prepare to vote again.  This continues until consensus is reached for all species under review.

Once consensus is reached for all species or, if after four rounds have passed and consensus could not be reached for some species, ENSP or CWF staff take the compiled Delphi results to the Endangered and Nongame Species Advisory Committee (ENSAC).  ENSAC reviews the results and makes the final recommendations on status for those species for which consensus was not reached by the expert panel.  Based upon ENSAC’s recommendations, any changes to the Endangered and Nongame lists must go through a formal rule-making process before those changes can be made official.

The Delphi review process is a science-based, anonymous review by those with the most expertise on the species within New Jersey.  A great deal of thought and time go into preparing for and carrying out a review and CWF has played a major role in assisting with the process.  From the blue whale to fairy shrimp, each species will ultimately receive a state status, leading the way for conservation action.

No chocolate, few tropical nuts and fruits, more insect pests…

Just the mere thought of no chocolate makes us frightened!

Bats are one of the most beneficial animals to humans. They play key roles in the environment, eating bothersome insects, pollinating flowers, and dispersing seeds.  Unfortunately, across the world, and here in the Garden State, bats continue to face many threats including habitat loss and disease such as white-nose syndrome.  White-nose syndrome, alone, can kill 90-100% of bats in affected caves.

But you can help!  This year, why not trick or treat for bats? 

Collect your trick or treat money and make a donation to CWF!  Thank bats for all the wonderful benefits they provide to us.  Halloween wouldn’t be the same without bats and delicious m&m’s, snickers, and almond joys.

Make a donation to Conserve Wildlife Foundation of NJ and help us to protect NJ’s bat population.

Or consider adopting an Indiana bat, NJ’s federally endangered bat, to help protect its future here in NJ.

To learn more about how bats benefit humans, read on!

Bats are primary pollinators of many tropical fruits like bananas, mangoes, and dates, guavas, and figs.  The agave cactus relies on bats for pollination.  No agave = no tequila (scary!)

Bats also help in seed dispersal.  In fact, seeds dropped by bats can account for up to 95 percent of forest regrowth on cleared land.  Bats spread the seeds of almonds, cashews, and chocolate.  Did you read that?  CHOCOLATE!  Bats help us to have more cacao trees, which produces the yummy main ingredient of our favorite Halloween treats!

Closer to home in New Jersey, bats eat bugs, and a lot of them.  All nine species of bats found inNew Jersey eat insects, consuming one-third of their weight in bugs each night.  Bats play essential roles in keeping populations of night-flying insects in balance. Just one bat can catch hundreds of insects in an hour, and large colonies catch tons of insects nightly, including beetles and moths that cost American farmers and foresters billions of dollars annually, not to mention mosquitoes in our backyards.

Learn More

By Margaret O’Gorman, Executive Director

Sundays in my house usually involve the New York Times and some hard-core housework. But on a recent sunny Sunday, I found myself inMorris County, testing the limits of my flexibility as I maneuvered myself through a small opening that is the entrance to Hibernia Mine, the most important bat hibernation area inNew Jersey.

Guided, with much patience and humor, by partner-in-bat-protection John Gumbs of the Bat Research Center and Mackenzie Hall, CWF’s resident bat biologist, I climbed up into a small space atop a steel door and, displaying little grace or athleticism, managed to wedge myself in the wrong direction, then the right direction, and finally to descend into the main mine shaft of Hibernia.

Once inside, aided by a headlamp, my eyes adjusted to the dark world and I was able to take in this old mine that is such an important site for our resident hibernating bat populations and, hopefully, a location that can play a critical role in its recovery.

White Nose Syndrome (WNS), the fungal infection that is devastating cave and mine bats acrossNorth America, took its toll at Hibernia Mine. Pre-WNS counts regularly found 30,000 bats in Hibernia. The population crashed over the winter of 2008, when 90% of the bats in the mine died and, with subsequent deaths during winter ’09 and ‘10, now only 1,500 call this place home. The remains of thousands of dead bats, scattered on the floor throughout the mine, bear sad testament to the losses seen by this place since WNS emerged as a mass killer of bats.

On this particular Sunday, we went into the mine to help John Gumbs with a research study that seeks to shed light – literally and figuratively – on the progression of the fungus that causes WNS and, in so doing, help develop a cure, a barrier, or at least a better model for the recovery of the population.

Walking deep into the mine with John and Mackenzie, it was hard to get a true feeling of the earth pressing down on top of you. The main shaft we were walking through was wide and tall. Parallel tracks down the shaft were evidence of the presence of a steam train that had hauled ore from the mine during its peak production phase in the late 1800’s.  Traces of soot from the underground steam trains mark the ceiling of the shaft. It was only when we went deeper into the mine, and explored a partially collapsed shaft with boulders as large as VW vans hanging above our heads, that a sense of the weight of the place became apparent.

But we were not there to explore. We were there to work. The purpose of our trip into the mine was to take photographs of bats under UV light to record the level of fluorescence on the bats’ wings.

John Gumbs and Mitzi Kaiura from Bat Research Center have pioneered a new research tool that uses UV light to visualize the tissue reaction caused by the fungus most likely causing WNS, Geomyces destructans (Gd), before other clinical signs are apparent. This research will expand biologists’ knowledge of the disease and the timeline associated with its impact on the hibernating population. You can read more about the Bat Research Center’s project and goals here.

To help John, we collected a small number of hibernating bats from the walls and roof of the main shaft. Each bat was plucked off the wall and placed into a small container with air holes. John set up a camera midway in the shaft. The collected bats were carried to the camera and gently laid on a cloth-covered black box, extending their wings to fill the camera’s viewfinder. Once the bat’s wing was positioned fully in the viewfinder, off went our headlights and on came the UV light which showed the bat in, no pun intended, a whole new light. Their teeth glowed in the UV light, their feet glowed likewise and their wings showed speckles, dapples or entire washes of fluorescence – possibly indicative of the progression of the disease. John hopes to develop a multi-year photo documentation of all phases of the Gd disease progression during hibernation and afterwards illustrate a link between this fluorescence and Gd.

Time flowed in a strange way inside the mine as we walked along the shaft examining clusters of hibernating bats and choosing some to be photographed. Time was told only by the cold seeping in through our boots or along our fingers.  In the darkness, time seemed to be totally absent and the ever-encroaching cold was the trigger to send us up and out of the mine.

On finally emerging into a sunny Sunday, following the reverse maneuver through the opening in the gate, it was like departing one world – dark, damp, silent and cool – for another full of sound, light and color.  Hikers passing by wearing shorts on this Indian summer day must have wondered at the winter-clad people emerging blinking into daylight!

A few things struck me about this adventure, not least of which is that I spend way too much time in the office. But the most important thing was the ingenuity and hard work of the people focused on protecting our bat population from extinction. John Gumbs, through his work, has developed photography methods to track the disease, engineered special tools to increase his efficiency and is now pioneering a method to cool bats into hibernation as a way to re-introduce them to their natural hibernacula, all on his own initiative and without any funding. We support John’s efforts and if you would like to also support his efforts or learn more about his work, please see our partner page.

The fight to save our bats from extinction continues in the cold, quiet darkness of Hibernia Mine and if passionate, innovative people like John Gumbs from Bat Research Center; Mick Valent from the state’s Endangered Species Program; Jackie Kashmer whose rehabilitation work we profiled recently; and Mackenzie Hall from Conserve Wildlife Foundation, are focused on this, we can hold out some hope for our precious and valuable bats.