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BATS ARE DYING AT AN ALARMING RATE!
THE MYSTERIOUS WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME IS THE PROBABLE CAUSE.
RESEARCHERS ARE DESPERATELY TRYING TO HELP BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Be an advocate for bats. Learn all you can about bats, and then spread the word about why they are important and why they are worth saving.

Build a bat house to attract these beneficial flying mammals to your yard. Get instructions from us.

Report sick or dead bats to the PA Game Commission. Download their “Reporting Information Form” at this site: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/pgc/9106

Donate to any of these recognized organizations for ongoing research:

BAT CONSERVATION INTERNATOIONAL: www.batcon.org/index.php/support-bci/make-a-donation.html?title=White-nose%20Syndrome&specialCode=WNS

NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL SOCIETY WNS RAPID RESPONSE FUND www.caves.org/WNS/Rapid_Response.shtml

INDIANA STATE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN BAT RESEARCH: www1.indstate.edu/biology/centers/batwnsfund.htm

Enter a BAT ART CONTEST. The $10 entry fee goes toward research. Get your entry form from us, or: http://www1.indstate.edu/biology/centers/ENTER THE BAT ART CONTEST.pdf

Adopt a bat. For $25 (goes to research) you can adopt a real bat in your child’s name. She will receive a plush toy bat, an adoption certificate, and species information. TO ADOPT GO TO: http://www.batcon.org/index.php/support-bci/adopt-a-bat.html?view=adoptSplash&layout=header

Preliminary reports this summer all tell the same story: Several species of bats are virtually gone in the Northeast. White-nose syndrome, the disease that has been wiping out bats over the past two winters, is expected to strike new areas this winter, including some of the world’s largest bat caves in Tennessee, Kentucky, and other southern and midwestern states. Bats are on a clear trajectory toward oblivion.
Yet from the beginning, the nation’s lead wildlife agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has failed to respond with the urgency that’s desperately needed to save bats from complete catastrophe. At least a million and a half bats are already dead, but the Service has yet to develop a plan of action or create a position for white-nose syndrome coordination.
Sam Hamilton, the agency’s new director, must put white-nose syndrome at the top of his list. Please: Send a message today urging him to create a white-nose syndrome plan now to prevent the complete unraveling of America’s bat populations. Bats cannot afford another winter like the two we’ve just witnessed.

Visit http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2167/t/5243/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27802 to take action.

On March 6, 2009, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar decided to uphold the Bush Administration’s last minute ruling to delist the Gray Wolves of the Northern Rockies and Greater Yellowstone Region. This means that as of May 4, 2009, these wolves no longer have any protections under the Endangered Species Act.

This is a disastrous decision for the following reasons:

• Independent scientists have determined that 2,000 to 3,000 gray wolves are needed for a sustainable population. 30 wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone Park and central Idaho in the mid 1990s and have grown to only 1,500 wolves today. Reopening hunting would allow over two thirds to be shot, trapped or poisoned. In addition, the number of breeding pairs, not just the total number, is important.
• The breeding and denning seasons, which are vital to the species’ recovery, will be interrupted.
• Yellowstone Park wolves declined by 27% last year, one of the largest declines reported since wolves were reintroduced to the park in 1995. In addition, wolf pups in Yellowstone National Park are dying of a yet-to-be-determined disease.
• There is fear that Compound 1080 (sodium cyanide and sodium fluoroacetate) will once again be used. One teaspoon of this poison can kill up to 100 people and there is no known antidote. It also indiscriminately kills wildlife and pets. The FBI has registered this compound as a possible terrorist weapon. The EPA lists it as “super toxic” and in some countries it is classified as a chemical weapon.
• There needs to be a national recovery plan. State plans are uncoordinated, aggressive and non-scientific. They do not allow for sustainable, well-connected wolf populations. Idaho is considering aerial gunning. Wyoming’s plan is so hostile the state’s wolf population has been kept under federal protection. Montana has refused to make enforceable commitments to maintaining a viable wolf population.
• The USFWS delisting plan must be based on current, credible science, however existing plans are badly out-of-date (the most recent plan is over 15 years old).
• There are biological concerns about the lack of genetic interchange because the disparate populations are not well-connected.
• Wolves help maintain healthy, balanced eco-systems by controlling native elk, pronghorn, bird, and rodent populations. Stream banks denuded of trees and brush are starting to heal.
• Thirteen conservation groups, including the Sierra Club, announced a legal challenge on April 1st, giving the Department of the Interior 60 days to reverse its decision or go to court. The decision was not reversed, so on June 2, 2009 the Earthjustice legal team, representing the environmental groups, filed suit to restore federal protections for the struggling gray wolves.
• The decision to delist is the second time in one year that the federal government has removed federal protections for the wolves in this area. Conservation groups, represented by Earthjustice, successfully sued to get the protections reinstated in July 2008. The conservation groups will again ask a federal court to reinstate federal Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in the northern Rockies until wolf numbers are stronger and the states pledge to responsibly manage wolves.

Action: You can send an e mail to President Obama at whitehouse.gov. To contact Secretary Salazar, go to doi.gov. To tell the USFW how you feel about the decision, you can use the contact form on fws.gov or call Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at 1-800-344-9453 (select option “3” for endangered species and hit “0” to speak with an operator).

For more information, go to the following web sites:

• Earthjustice
• Defenders of Wildlife
• Natural Resources Defense Council

If anyone would like to help with this campaign by doing research, writing pieces for the webpage, tracking the situation, or composing action alerts, please contact:

Bett: thebeesonfamily at gmail dot com
Kathleen: kbs_pgh at comcast dot net