Bat Die-Off in Vermont - Cause - Prevention - Disaster

We live in the North East Corridor and are beginning to see a problem with serious ramifications.

There has been an immense and rapid die-off of the local bat population. It appears that the bats are emaciated, flying during the day, not hibernating, and speckled with a white fungus. In short, the one's stricken with these symptoms are already dead, they just don't know it yet.

This leads me to be consumed by the short sightedness of the scientific community. They are desperately trying to find out what the sickness is. And perhaps in doing so, they have forgotten the very basics of scientific insight.

As I suspected early on, scientists now believe the fungus is a secondary symptom and not the cause of the die-off.

This lead me to beg for two more paths of inquiry:

1. Look at changes in the food chain... not necessarily disease, but any element that would cause the bat to slightly shift its dietary habits. Much the way ciliac disease causes absorption incompatibilities, is it possible that the bat is not getting nourishment because what it is eating is preventing absorption. This wouldn't necessarily be a symptom of disease, but of a mild dietary shift

Unfortunately, it is easier to study this element in hindsight.

2. When looking at the food chain, has there been ANY significant die-offs, population control above or below the food source. This requires scientists that are not studying the bat populace, but more importantly, the insect populous. In other words, invite the entomological community into the discussion and have them focus JUST on that element in the food chain.

3. That brings the discussion to the fungus. Look at the safety catches that keep that fungus in check. To know the nature of the fungus life-cycle/food chain, may provide more valuable in connecting the dots.

4. Don't actually expect to connect the dots. Think about the human condition. If suddenly a huge portion of the population went crazy and we made the connection to prions in our beef supply, voila.... we would have a solid connection point and could back it up by observing the behavior of vegetarians. But if vegetarians suffered the same fate, it wouldn't necessarily rule out prion interference. However, prions in the beef would be part of the over-all situation.

Whatever is happening to the bats may exist on many levels. By all means, see if there is a pathogen. Study the blood samples, hair samples, etc.... but by not having a dedicated team of scientists studying the food chains of the foods supply and the fungus itself, we are heading down a very dangerous road where all we may do is shrug.

The way I see it, we have a very short time to unravel this mystery.

-B