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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=navy face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;color:navy'>FYI, Carolyn Marsh<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>[ <a
href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/bats-01-21-2010.html">http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2010/bats-01-21-2010.html</a> ]</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
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<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>For
Immediate Release, January 21, 2010 <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Contact:
Mollie Matteson, Center for Biological Diversity, (802) 434-2388 (office),
(802) 318-1487 (cell)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=headline align=center style='text-align:center'><b><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>Emergency
Petitions Filed to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Close</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Caves</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and Save Bats From
Extinction </span></font></b><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>WASHINGTON—
The Center for Biological Diversity today filed two emergency petitions with
the federal government in an effort to stop the spread of a deadly bat disease
and step up government action to save two rare bat species from extinction. The
<a
href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome/pdfs/Cave-petition-01-21-2010.pdf"
target="_blank">first petition</a> asks federal agencies to close all bat caves
under their jurisdiction and asks Interior Secretary Salazar to pass
regulations restricting travel between bat caves under any jurisdiction. Such
measures are necessary until it can be shown that people are not a vector for
the newly emergent bat disease known as white-nose syndrome, and that measures
to eliminate risk of spread are effective. The <a
href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome/pdfs/petition-Myotisleibii-Myotisseptentrionalis.pdf"
target="_blank">second petition</a> asks for the eastern small-footed bat and
the northern long-eared bat, both hit hard by <a
href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/bat_crisis_white-nose_syndrome/index.html"
target="_blank">white-nose syndrome</a>, to be protected as endangered species
under the federal Endangered Species Act. <br>
<br>
“White-nose syndrome has decimated bats in the Northeast and is quickly
spreading to other regions,” said Mollie Matteson, a conservation
advocate with the Center. “Our government needs to increase its response
by an order of magnitude to offer any hope for bats in the eastern <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
and to ensure that the disease does not spread across the country.” <br>
<br>
The Center’s actions come as scientists and wildlife agencies brace
themselves for a fourth winter of bat deaths across the eastern <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Since white-nose syndrome was first documented in caves in the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Albany</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">New York</st1:State></st1:place>
area in early 2007, the disease – since confirmed as a previously unknown
fungus – has spread to bat populations in a total of nine states.
Biologists believe it will show up in new areas this winter, and may reach some
of the densest and most diverse bat populations in the world, in the South and <st1:place
w:st="on">Midwest</st1:place>, within the next year or two. Thus far, over a
million bats are dead from the syndrome. <br>
<br>
“This is the worst wildlife catastrophe the country has seen since the
extinction of the passenger pigeon,” said Matteson. “Bats eat
millions of insects every year, meaning their loss could have far-reaching
consequences for people and for crops.”<br>
<br>
The Center is requesting that the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, and
Defense close all bat-inhabited caves and mines on federal lands throughout the
continental <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
to prevent the possible human transmission of the fungus that causes white-nose
syndrome and to ban travel between caves with bats under any jurisdiction.
Scientists suspect that people are partially responsible for the fungus’
spread and may even have introduced it to <st1:place w:st="on">North America</st1:place>.
A recent genetic analysis of a white fungus found on a bat in <st1:country-region
w:st="on">France</st1:country-region> confirmed that it is identical to the
disease-causing fungus in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United
States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. However, European bats do not appear
to become ill from the fungus.<br>
“Closing nonessential access to caves is a necessary precaution until
white-nose syndrome is better understood and it can be determined that entering
caves is safe,” said Matteson. The group supports white-nose syndrome
research in caves, and has also asked that a national fund be established to
acquire and conserve important bat caves from willing sellers. <br>
<br>
The two bat species the Center is petitioning to have listed as endangered were
already rare prior to the appearance of white-nose syndrome and are now at
grave risk of extinction. <br>
<br>
“Without aggressive efforts to secure their habitat and stem further
losses from all causes, including probable human transmission of the new bat
disease, these bats may soon join the sad list of American species we know only
from textbooks and museums,” said Matteson. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>###<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p align=center style='text-align:center'><i><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;font-style:italic'>The Center for
Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with
more than 255,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of
endangered species and wild places.</span></font></i><font size=2 face=Arial><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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From: @K.ST
Action: REJECT