white nose syndrome

Biologists have found the first trace of a deadly bat disease in Wisconsin.  Bats tested positive for white nose syndrome at a mine in southwestern Wisconsin.

The Grant County location where white nose was found…is within flying distance of an Illinois site where the syndrome turned up in 2012.  Biologists are guessing a bat from that location carried the disease to Wisconsin. 

White nose has also been found for the first time in several locations in the Upper Peninsula.

The Wisconsin DNR’s Paul White says it’s likely the disease will spread throughout the state.

Biologists are on the lookout for signs of a spreading fungus that could affect bats in Wisconsin.  

Signs of the deadly white nose syndrome have been found in neighboring states and as close as 30 miles from the Wisconsin border, but haven’t yet appeared here. 

DNR Conservation Biologist Paul White says preventative measures may have helped.  All cave bats in Wisconsin are listed as threatened, and officials enforce decontamination procedures at public caving sites.