Bats are critical to our ecosystem! Bat Week is an international, annual celebration designed to raise awareness about the need for bat conservation. Bats are amazing creatures that are vital to the health of our natural world and economy. Although we may not always see them, bats are hard at work all around the world each night – eating tons of insects, pollinating flowers, and spreading seeds that grow new plants and trees. Visit batweek.org
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From NYS DEC: In observance of Bat Week, an internationally recognized weeklong focus to raise awareness about the important role bats play in our environment, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos today urged outdoor adventurers to avoid visiting caves and mines that may serve as seasonal homes for hibernating bats. Human disturbance is especially harmful to the State’s bat populations since the arrival of the disease known as white-nose syndrome, a fungus that has killed more than 90 percent of bats at hibernation sites in New York.
Two species of bats are currently protected under federal and State endangered species law. The Indiana bat, which is sparsely distributed across New York, is a federally endangered bat listed before white-nose syndrome began affecting bat populations. The northern long-eared bat is protected as a threatened species under federal and New York State Endangered Species law. The current population for this formerly common bat is approximately one percent of its previous size, making the species the most severely affected by white-nose syndrome. Nonetheless, northern long-eared bats are still widely distributed in New York and their presence has been documented in most of the state’s 100 or so caves and mines that serve as bat hibernation sites.
