A mysterious ailment, discovered in New York last year and spreading ever since, has killed thousands of bats in several Northeast states.
Hoping to keep the phenomenon, dubbed white nose syndrome, from spreading to Maryland, wildlife officials here are taking no chances.
They're asking everyone who explores caves to protect themselves - and any bats they encounter - by following new federal guidelines that recommend thoroughly washing any equipment they use in caves.
Even if the ailment doesn't reach Maryland, scientists say, a decline in the number of migrating bats from other states could mean a summer with more insect pests here.
Named for the fungus that often appears on an afflicted bat's nose, white nose syndrome killed an estimated 11,000 bats last year in New York state. Since then, it has spread to Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts and has been detected in the hibernation sites of up to 500,000 bats. It has shown an ability to kill up to 90 percent of the bats in places where it turns up.
"Every biologist on the East Coast is worried about this," said Leslie Sturges, a naturalist at the Locust Grove Nature Center in Bethesda and a licensed bat rehabilitator.
Bats are the planet's only flying mammals - and many of them eat nearly their weight in mosquitoes and other insects each night. Reducing their numbers would mean more backyard pests and probably an increased use of pesticides, experts say.
"We completely underestimate their ecological role," said Margareta Kalka, an ecologist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
A few years ago, she used infrared cameras to videotape bats in Panama and found that they consume up to 84 percent of their body weight in insects each night. Maryland's bats probably have the same voracious appetites, Kalka said.
In the Northeast, bats spend winters hibernating in caves, mines and other sheltered areas. Some migrate each spring, while other bats stay put year-round, said Dana Limpert, a state Department of Natural Resources ecologist.
They usually become active about this time of year, as temperatures climb above 40 degrees, she said.
But white nose syndrome prompts bats to leave their winter caves and shelters before the end of their hibernation season and begin hunting for food that is still scarce - and without any fat reserves to tide them over, experts say.
