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ST. GEORGE — In a cave system shaped by tectonic forces cracking ancient limestone, conditions are ideal to host one of the largest known bat colonies in Southern Utah.
But just because biologists know there are plenty of bats in Bloomington Cave from year to year, that doesn't mean it's an easy task to catch and catalog them during annual surveys.
One such checkup was recently completed April 25 by a crew with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. This year, as in years past, the primary goal was to screen for one of the deadliest threats to bats in the entire United States: white-nose syndrome.
"We have quite a few species of bats out here where there's no understanding at all how they're going to respond to white-nose (syndrome), if they do at all," said Keith Day, native species biologist with the state wildlife agency. "We don't exactly know what's going to happen — I'd really rather say 'if' — but probably when it gets out here."
Caused by an invasive species of fungus (Pseudogymnoascus destructans) that thrives in the cold, damp conditions typical of caves, white-nose syndrome is estimated to have killed millions of bats since it was first detected in North America in 2006.
The disease has spread across the continent from east to west, carried by migrating bats and unwitting spelunkers transporting the fungus on boots, clothing and climbing gear. Utah is among the last Western states without a confirmed case, along with Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and Oregon.
