SAVING THE INDIANA BAT

Every year, Indiana bats gather in “swarms” at chosen hibernating spots to mate, swooping in and out of caves from dusk till dawn. Some humans might find this a frightening sight, but in fact bats are shy, sensitive, and vulnerable animals — and the Indiana bat is one of the rarest and most vulnerable of its kind. The species’ long-term decline began in the early 1800s as its wintering sites or “hibernacula” were disturbed by mining, tourism, and other activities. In the decades since, these bats have been hit hard by habitat loss — and in 2007 a perplexing and deadly new threat to bats, called white-nose syndrome, first appeared in the Northeast and began killing hundreds of thousands of the animals, including Indiana bats. If this species doesn’t get extra protections, and if white-nose syndrome keeps spreading, it’s quite possible we’ll witness the extinction of this species altogether.

In recognition of Indiana bats’ declining status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed them as endangered in 1967. Closure of caves and other protective measures for hibernacula have been crucial to Indiana bat recovery. But today, white-nose syndrome has precipitated a deadly dive in Indiana bat numbers in the eastern United States.
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With so many Indiana bats dying from white-nose syndrome, it’s imperative that other threats to the species are minimized — and the Center has triggered substantial progress. More than a year after our January 2008 petition to protect bats by closing caves and other bat hibernation sites, the Forest Service closed to the public all caves and abandoned mines in 33 eastern and southern states to help stop the spread of white-nose syndrome. In 2009, after we joined with allies to file a protest against a plan to auction off oil and gas leases in a portion of West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest — just a few miles away from a major hibernating site for Virginia big-eared and Indiana bats — the Bureau withdrew the area from the lease sale. Also in early 2008, we petitioned the Service, six other agencies, and the secretary of the Army to re-evaluate federal projects that might harm endangered bats in the East, including highways, dams, and logging — but so far, we’ve received no response. We filed a notice of intent to sue the agencies in April, and in May of 2009, we joined 60 allies in writing a letter to members of Congress requesting more funds be allocated to fighting white-nose syndrome.