White-nose Syndrome Hits Alberta's Bats

0:00It's March 29th. This is Canada News today, AI-powered stories from your city. White no syndrome. That killer fungus wiping out bats across North America just hit Alberta's rocky mountains for the first time. Since 2006, it's claimed over 6,700,000 bats continent-wide by waking them early from hibernation, leading to starvation and death. In Alberta, the fungus showed up in 2022 with full disease confirmation last year in 2024. Surveys this year by provincial teams and wildlife conservation society, Canada found signs in three caves, including Kadaman and Wapiyabi in Central, Alberta. Those spots got shut to cavers back in 2010 to shield hibernating bats, and they're keeping the third-case location secret to avoid more. Traffic Experts like bat specialist Lisa Wilkinson call it tough news, with an 80% population drop in one key habitat last year. Mirroring 90 ore, 95% crashes in eastern North America.

1:03It threatens all six hibernating bat species here, including the endangered little brown bat and northern myotus. The good fights on with probiotics, bacterial sprays on summer bat houses that cut fungus levels and spread bat to bat, can erase the disease, but it softens the blow and they're ramping up applications while checking bat health this season. Pots can pitch in too, reporting roosts, or mailing guano samples to ID species, and map hot spots for treatments, these steps aim to give bats a fighting chance, slowing the decline before populations vanish for good.