First cases of tragic syndrome plaguing bats detected in New Mexico

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced Monday a tragic development in the deadly white-nose bat syndrome, revealing the first cases of the deadly bat disease in New Mexico.

Since 2006, the fungal disease has slaughtered millions of North American bats with a white fungus growing on their skin, leading to irritation of the little creatures. The irritation forces hibernating bats to wake up early from hibernation, which exhausts fat stores needed for winter survival. These events lead to the bats’ tragic deaths. 

“Samples from two live bats and two deceased bats were collected in late April from BLM-managed caves in Lincoln and De Baca counties.” wrote the BLM.

“The two dead bats were confirmed with WNS, one a fringed myotis in Lincoln County, the other a cave myotis in De Baca County.  Additionally, wing biopsies from two live cave myotis at the same Lincoln Co. site revealed microscopic lesions consistent with WNS. WNS is caused by an invasive fungal pathogen named Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). Although Pd was previously detected in New Mexico in 2021, evidence of the disease had not been confirmed in the state until now.”

“With the collaboration of a great team of partners, BLM New Mexico has been monitoring its most significant winter bat caves for evidence of Pd since 2011,” said BLM New Mexico’s Threatened and Endangered Species Program Lead Marikay Ramsey. “We will continue to coordinate with our state, federal, tribal and non-governmental partners to test and implement prevention measures such as restricted access to affected caves to minimize the spread of the disease in New Mexico.”

“Of the almost 30 species of bats known to occur in New Mexico, more than half are known or suspected to hibernate in the state during the winter,” said James Stuart, non-game mammal specialist with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. “All these hibernating species are potentially vulnerable to WNS when they spend the winter in caves or mines where the Pd fungus has become established. We don’t yet know to what extent WNS will impact our New Mexico bat populations, but we will continue to support monitoring of bat populations and caves throughout New Mexico for the presence of WNS and Pd.”

The fungus and disease do not affect humans or pets, but human activity in caves is said to lead to the fungus that kills the bats. At Carlsbad Caverns National Park, for example, guests entering the bat cave must disinfect their shoes to prevent the syndrome from entering.

Bats are critical for a balanced ecosystem, being avid pollinators that eat pests such as mosquitoes, moths, beetles, crickets, leafhoppers, and chinch bugs, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.