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Road trip? Watch out for stowaway bats, province warned


Digital writers
theweathernetwork.com

Sunday, May 20, 2018, 4:52 PM - If you live in B.C. and are looking forward to a summer of road trips, you'd better make sure you don't have a bat or two stowed away for the ride -- and not just for your own sake.

The B.C. government is actively warning people to ensure the winged rodents don't hitch a ride, not just to spare you a nasty surprise when it emerges but also out of concern for the bats' health.

"Little brown bats, and other bat species, sometimes hide in nooks and crannies of trailers, campers, umbrellas, trucks and other vehicles, and inadvertently take a ride hundreds or thousands of kilometres from home," the B.C. government says in a press release.


Embed from Getty Images


Specifically, the government is worried about the spread of white nose syndrome, a fungal disease that is harmless to humans but affects hibernating bats, causing them to behave strangely, and can be fatal. Since it was first documented in New York State more than a decade ago, the condition has killed at least six million bats in North America. In the worst cases, it has been known to kill 90-100 per cent of bats in a particular hibernaculum, places like mines and caves where bats hibernate.

The disease has been detected in 32 states and six provinces, from Ontario eastward and as far south as Mississippi and Texas. In the U.S., some of the bat species it afflicts are endangered or at risk, while in Canada in 2016, white nose syndrome caused three species of bats to be given endangered status under the Species at Risk Act.

So far, no cases of the disease have been detected in western Canada, though some cases in Washington State have authorities mindful of the risk of spreading north of the border. B.C. travellers who find one in their vehicle or trailer can look here for instructions on how to handle it.

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SOURCES: WhiteNoseSyndrome.org | Species at Risk Public Registry | Government of B.C. | Thumbnail image source

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