Wildlife experts highlight bat conservation at Lincoln Caverns' Bat Fest 11FEB23

I have always loved bats, I think they are some of the coolest critters God created and I am well aware of the extremely important role they play in maintaining a healthy environment and the serious threat they face from loss of habitat and from WNS. This from  WJAC / Johnstown, PA  and be sure to check out the links at the end of this post for more information on bats, WNS and how to help these fuzzy little creatures....

Wildlife experts highlight bat conservation at Lincoln Caverns' Bat Fest

by Douglas Braff

Saturday, February 11th 2023

HUNTINGDON CO., Pa. (WJAC) — November saw the northern long-eared bat declared an endangered species.

The years-long Bat Fest tradition at Lincoln Caverns took the opportunity on Saturday to educate the public about the species and other types of bats.

To some, bats can be a nuisance, frightening, or even part of your superhero origin story. But, like all animals, we rely on them more than it would seem. That was one of the main messages of Lincoln Caverns' 17th annual Bat Fest.

"It's a great way to reach out to the public and get them interested and informed about bats and especially what we're doing here in the state," Mike Scafini, an endangered animals specialist for PA Game Commission, shares with 6 News.

However, experts tell us they're concerned for the future of certain bat species.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in November lifted the northern long-eared bat to "endangered." For some, like bat researcher Luke Fultz, it's foreshadowing.

"The little brown bat and the tricolored bat are ones that are looking to possibly be uplifted at some point as well," the wildlife biologist and ecologist for Apogee Environmental & Archaeological tells 6 News.

Two of the main reasons behind the dropping numbers is: habitat and the disease known as white-nose syndrome (Pseudogymnoascus destructans), "which is caused by a fungus that was brought over, they think from Europe," Fultz explains. "It spores and it thrives in caves."

"It was introduced to New York in 2006," Scafini notes. "And it's since spread up and down the East Coast, and now is making its way across the entire United States."

Fultz says the fungus affects the exposed skin areas, which can wake up the bats from their hibernation, forcing them to consume their fat and energy to get them through winter.

"That takes a lot of energy to bring that metabolic rate back up, that body temperature back up, the breathing rate and everything back up," he points out. "And if that happens too many times, the bats tend to starve."

So, how do we actually conserve bats — especially from WNS?

Aside from protecting habitats and people putting up bat boxes in their yards, Scafini says there are two primary methods for combatting WNS.

"One is cooling hibernacula, we call it hibernacula manipulations, where we're either open up a second entrance to help get colder air in and get the site to a temperature, where the fungus does not grow as well," he says.

Hibernacula (sing. hibernaculum) is the scientific term used for the habitats where animals hibernate.

Scafini adds that "another option is the spraying of Polyethylene glycol 8,000, which is a substance that slows the fungus down from growing."

While they may freak you out, bats are vital to our ecosystem.

"So, they play a major role ecologically through seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control," Fultz explains. "In a lot of ways, they fill the ecological niche, nocturnally, that birds and bees and butterflies and things do during the day."

"You may have noticed that the insect numbers have risen dramatically," says Scafini. "You probably can't go for a hike anymore without getting a cobweb in your face cuz bats eat spiders and you might be more annoyed by the flies and mosquitoes cuz bats are the predominant eater of those."

"The benefits of bats are pretty endless," he adds.

The PA Game Commission, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have information for what to do when encountering bats and if you would like to help conserve bats.

Yesterday we went to court to save wolves! & Eva Sargent: More Mexican gray wolves needed in the wild 24&22FEB16

EARTHJUSTICE has gone to court to save the last of the Mexican gray wolves. They take actions like this because people donate to +Earthjustice to protect those places and creatures of the planet that are tossed aside, abandoned, left to be killed off. Please consider donating to EarthJustice to support their work, for the wolves, the forest, ultimately for you. And check out this article on the Mexican gray wolves from +Arizona Daily Star .....

Yesterday, thanks to your generous support, we filed our opening brief in court to save the last remaining Mexican gray wolves. Despite all of our outcry and comments, the Fish and Wildlife Service continues to bow to political pressure and ignore the best available science, impeding the recovery of this rare species. But thanks to you, we’re fighting back. We have to! Just last week the Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the number of Mexican gray wolves remaining in the wild has dropped to under 100. Last year alone, 13 of these magnificent wolves died, 11 simply disappeared and pup survival rates were only at 55 percent. Sadly, illegal killing is the leading cause of wolf mortality.

We should be doing everything we can to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to follow the law and ensure, not impede, the wolf’s recovery! Earthjustice can’t stand by while these wolves are so close to being wiped out completely—and with your help, we aren’t. Yesterday’s action is one step of many to come in our work to save this wolf, the most endangered mammal on the continent. Thank you for your support, which allows us to take on these difficult battles.I’ll keep you updated as the fight continues. Sincerely,

Heidi McIntosh Managing Attorney Rocky Mountain Office Eva Sargent: More Mexican gray wolves needed in the wild

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

A survey last year found 97 Mexican gray wolves in the wild.

February 22, 2016 6:15 pm  •  By Eva Sargent Special to the Arizona Daily Star

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The Mexican gray wolf (also known as “lobo”) is the most-endangered gray wolf in the world. This smaller subspecies of the gray wolf once ruled as top dog throughout the American Southwest until humans drove it to the brink of extinction. And while the lobo population hit a record high last year, this year, the news isn’t so good.

On Feb. 18, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released the 2015 count for Mexican gray wolves, which shows there are now just 97 Mexican gray wolves in the wild, a decrease from 110 lobos in 2014.

A drop in the Mexican gray wolf count is the last thing the lobos need as they continue to fight for their survival. The conservation and scientific communities already know — and have known for years — how to set lobos on the road to recovery.

While the service continues to give in to pressure from the governors of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, causing it to drag its feet on Mexican gray wolf recovery efforts, Defenders of Wildlife has already identified three significant steps that the service needs to take in order for the Mexican gray wolf to recover.

First, it needs to release more lobos from captivity as the first step in a science-based genetic rescue plan. Mexican wolves are facing a genetic crisis. All of the Mexican gray wolves in the world today are descended from only seven wolves that began the captive-breeding program. The captive population has been carefully managed to preserve its genetic diversity, but since the service failed to release enough wolves over the years, the wild population’s gene pool has become extremely limited.

This lack of genetic diversity affects lobos’ ability to raise healthy pups and adapt to changing conditions, keeping them on the brink of extinction. However, there are about 300 Mexican gray wolves in captivity in zoos and breeding centers. Many of these wolves have never bred.

By introducing new breeding pairs from captivity, the gene pool can be expanded in the wild and improve the chances for wolves to survive and thrive in the region.

Second, the service needs to complete and implement the Mexican gray wolf recovery plan. In 1982, the service drafted a so-called recovery plan, but it had no goals beyond a first step of captive breeding and wolf releases. The document did not meet any of the required elements of a bona fide recovery plan. Since then, the service has tried to develop a science-based recovery plan several times, but each time it has abandoned the effort. Now, 40 years after the lobo was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the wolves are still without the legally required plan.

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A scientifically sound recovery plan will provide key insights to keep the lobo safe into the future, such as how many wolves are needed (and in how many populations) and where these populations can find suitable habitat and prey. The agency is clearly violating its own policy that calls for recovery plans to be finalized within 2½ years of listing under the ESA. We are more than 37 years past that deadline.

Third, the service needs to establish additional lobo populations in the wild, ideally within dispersal distance of the established population in Arizona and New Mexico. Without additional populations, the wolves are at risk of extinction from disasters like wildfire or disease. A published, peer-reviewed study concluded that areas in southern Colorado and in the Grand Canyon region still contain some of the best suitable habitat for wolves. These areas have sufficient habitat and prey, low human and road densities and are within dispersal distance of the established populations in Arizona and New Mexico.

Bottom line: We need more wolves in the wild if this iconic species is going to have any chance at survival, let alone recovery. The service needs to assert its authority and recover the Mexican gray wolf now.

Eva Sargent is the senior Southwest representative of Defenders of Wildlife.

Save Wolves Under Siege, Stop the Congressional Attack on Endangered Wolves 10FEB11

IGNORANCE, not science, is driving this campaign to remove wolves from the Endangered Species list. Politicians from the West and Rocky Mountain states are using fear and propaganda to manipulate public opinion and the views of fellow members of Congress, but they are not using the scientific facts about wolves in the lower 48. PLEASE join the NRDC and other environmental organizations and tell your Senators and Representative to vote against any bill that includes removing federal protection for wolves. NRDC has more information on wolves on their website.

		SPEAK OUT FOR WOLVES NOW! Over the next critical weeks, Congress could strip wolves of federal protection, leaving them at the mercy of states that want to kill hundreds of them. Send a message to your senators and representative right now -- for the sake of wolf survival! Anti-wolf lawmakers are wasting no time in the new Congress. They have introduced bills in both the House and the Senate that would strip wolves of their endangered species protection, leaving them at the mercy of states that plan to kill hundreds of them. Tell your senators and representative to oppose this senseless assault on an endangered species. These bills are a blatant attempt to bypass court orders and good science, which say that wolves should remain on the Endangered Species List, protected from mass killing, until they’re fully recovered. Any of these anti-wolf bills could be attached to a spending bill and passed within the next month -- with support from both sides of the aisle. Do NOT assume that your representative and senators will defend wolves because they are pro-wildlife or pro-environment. Many lawmakers will be under tremendous pressure to abandon wolves if it comes down to a vote on a spending bill. Tell all three of your lawmakers not to sacrifice wolves to state control and widespread killing. Congress has never before removed an animal from the Endangered Species List. Doing so now will not only lead to the slaughter of hundreds of wolves, it will set a terrible precedent by replacing scientific judgment with political calculation -- undermining the very basis of the Endangered Species Act. The return of wolves to Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies is one of America’s greatest conservation success stories. Don’t let Congress turn that success into slaughter. Please stand up for wolves by speaking out today! Sincerely, Peter Lehner Executive Director

TAKE ACTION: Don't Let Congress Strip Endangered Species Protections from the Gray Wolf 3DEZ10

GRAY WOLVES in the lower 48 are under attack in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and EarthJustice is fighting in the courts (and winning) to protect them as an endangered species. Please participate in this action to contact your Senators and Representative asking them to oppose attempts to remove gray wolves from the endangered species list.

The restoration of the gray wolf to the Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming represents one of America's greatest endangered species success stories. Where once there were almost no gray wolves, today there are 1,700 wolves living in the Yellowstone ecosystem and Northern Rockies.

Yet, this success and the very future of the Endangered Species Act are under grave threat.

On August 5, 2010, in a case argued by Earthjustice on behalf of 13 conservation groups, the Montana federal district court struck down the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's 2009 delisting of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. As a result of this litigation, wolves are now protected under the ESA in the lower 48.

But now, in response to our court victory, Congress is attempting to pass legislation that would override this decision and remove these wolves' Endangered Species Act protections. These bills would allow hunting of the gray wolf and decimate these newly restored populations.

It would also set a terrible precedent for the Endangered Species Act, opening the door for members of Congress to determine which species survive and which would become extinct, based solely on politics, not science and law.

We must send a message to Congress to protect the gray wolf and safeguard the Endangered Species Act.

Please tell your senators and representative to protect one of America's greatest wildlife success stories -- the magnificent gray wolf and to safeguard the Endangered Species Act.

To take action on this issue, click on the link below:
http://action.earthjustice.org/site/Advocacy?s_oo=YuVe-i-iZxhyTn49fVZeCw..&id=1065
If the text above does not appear as a link or it wraps across multiple lines, then copy and paste it into the address area of your browser.

350 BELUGA WHALES, THE LAST OF THEIR SPECIES? from NRDC 1SEP10

NRDC is always waging the good fight for the environment, and so for all of us. I hope you will consider a donation to them for this battle. For more information click the header to go to their website, and search this blog for earlier post on the proposed Pebble Mine and the environment devastation it will bring to Alaska and Cook Inlet.
 
We’re fighting in court right now to save the extraordinary beluga whales of Alaska’s Cook Inlet. Only 350 of these whales still survive, so there is no time to lose. Won’t you make a gift to help us win this case and save these singing whales from extinction? Thank you for helping NRDC come to their rescue.

Help NRDC Save the Last of Their Kind! Thanks to you, NRDC helped win historic protection for Alaska’s Cook Inlet beluga whales in 2008. But Sarah Palin’s successor has sued to strip them of those vital safeguards. Now we need your help to defend the last 350 Cook Inlet belugas in federal court -- and to halt the massive Pebble Mine project that could help push them into extinction! They are beautiful. They are musical. And they are the LAST of their kind. They are Alaska’s Cook Inlet beluga whales: a genetically-distinct population of extraordinary marine mammals that have already declined by more than 75 percent -- with only about 350 survivors remaining. NRDC needs your help now to defend these vulnerable belugas against a legal assault begun by former Governor Sarah Palin. Her successor escalated Alaska’s war on belugas by filing a lawsuit that would strip away the whale’s endangered species protection. Please make a special, tax-deductible donation right now that can help us stave off this attack and save the Cook Inlet belugas from extinction. Why are Cook Inlet belugas so endangered? For one thing, the Anchorage Sewage Treatment Plant pumps large volumes of waste into Cook Inlet every day, polluting the water and exposing the belugas to pathogens and toxic chemicals. But an even more disastrous threat may come from the massive Pebble Mine that Mitsubishi, Anglo American and other corporate giants are planning to carve out of the pristine landscape that surrounds the beluga’s favorite waters. If the mine gets built, industrial development in nearby Iniskin Bay -- part of the proposed critical habitat for Cook Inlet beluga whales -- is expected to include a vast marine terminal, roads and a slurry pipeline, further endangering the whales and pushing them that much closer to extinction. That’s why we are fighting in federal court right now to make sure that these belugas remain protected as an endangered species! Please make a contribution today that will help us turn back this senseless assault on the Cook Inlet belugas. Your gift will also help us escalate our worldwide campaign to stop the destructive Pebble Mine! Extinction is forever. It would be unconscionable to let the Cook Inlet beluga whales lose their protection or be wiped out by the Pebble Mine. Please help provide the critical funding we need to wage and win these two fights for beluga survival! And thank you for responding quickly to our urgent request. Sincerely, Peter Lehner Executive Director Natural Resources Defense Council P.S. Beluga whales are sometimes called “sea canaries” because of their mesmerizing songs. For a unique population of these beautiful, musical creatures to lose their protection now, while their population numbers only in the hundreds, could be their death knell. NRDC is going to court to defend beluga whales against the state of Alaska’s lawsuit but we need your help! Please make an emergency online gift to NRDC. Thank you.

NRDC takes pride in our careful stewardship of your contributions. Donations to this campaign will be used to help NRDC go to court to protect beluga whales and other wildlife or for other campaigns that enable NRDC to defend the environment in the most effective way possible.