After helping prevent extinctions for 50 years, the Endangered Species Act itself may be in peril ktvz.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ktvz.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
It seems like paper and rubber bats are ever-present around the Halloween season. It's real bats we have to worry about. White-nose Syndrome is having a dramatic impact on overall bat populations in Michigan, and elsewhere. The ecological and economic impacts are already being felt, and the situation may get worse before it gets better. Dr. Allen Kurta is a biology professor at EMU and a noted bat expert. He joined WEMU's David Fair with the latest information.
CADILLAC — Since the introduction of White Nose Syndrome to Michigan in 2014, the number of bats hibernating in the caves of the Upper Peninsula has decreased by nearly 90%.
Federal officials announced plans Tuesday to list the tricolored bat as endangered the second U.S. bat species recommended for the designation this year as a fungal disease ravages their populations.
The northern long-eared and the tricolored are among a dozen North American bats afflicted by white-nose syndrome, which disrupts their crucial winter hibernation.