Three More Cases of White-Nose Syndrome Confirmed from Tennessee Caves

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation announce positive White-nose Syndrome (WNS) results for bats collected from three caves in Tennessee.

 

These findings are in addition to those of WNS that were previously reported for Sullivan County and Montgomery County. Bats from Grindstaff Cave in Carter County, East Fork Saltpeter Cave in Fentress County and Camps Gulf Cave in Van Buren County have all tested positive for WNS.  This announcement and the recent discovery of WNS in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, brings the total to six caves in Tennessee documented with WNS.

 

White-nose Syndrome is an infectious fungus attributed to killing over one million bats in the northeastern U.S. since it was first observed in 2006.  The first documentation of WNS in Tennessee was confirmed in March 2010. Recently, WNS was also confirmed in Missouri and Ontario, Canada.

 

There have been no large bat mortalities observed in Tennessee, as yet.  In the northeastern U.S., the large mortalities occurred in the second and third year after initial confirmation of WNS.

 

There have been no reported human illnesses attributed to WNS and there is currently no evidence to suggest that WNS is harmful to organisms other than bats.

 

TWRA is working with federal and state agencies to help monitor Tennessee’s caves for WNS as well as supporting on-going research efforts to find effective treatment methods. “Tennessee is a cave rich state and we have been blessed with a variety of bat species that make their home – at least part of the year – in our state. We want to do all we can to protect them,” said Gina Hancock, associate state director, The Nature Conservancy’s Tennessee Chapter.

---TWRA---