This really, really sucks:
Biologists have found what they believe is the first evidence that Maryland bats are now infected with white nose syndrome, a deadly fungal disease that has killed more than a million hibernating bats since 2006, devastating colonies from New England to Virginia.
A state biologist conducting a bat survey Friday found dead and weakened bats in a cave on private property near Cumberland, the Department of Natural Resources reported Wednesday.
About three-quarters of the winged mammals had the telltale white fungus on their muzzles and other exposed skin.
“It’s likely going to kill a majority of them before spring,” said Dan Feller, the western region DNR biologist who found them. Typically, once the disease is established in a colony, 90 percent of the bats are gone by the second year.
If it’s in Maryland it’s in my neck of the woods too.
