A survey of 60 bat hibernation sites in Wisconsin this year found some where entire populations of the insect-eating mammals had been wiped out and just two that remained untouched by a deadly fungus, the state Department of Natural Resources said Tuesday.
White-nose syndrome caused bat numbers to plummet in the range of 40 percent to 60 percent at two large sites that once accounted for two-thirds of the state’s known bat population, DNR species management section chief Owen Boyle said in a statement.
The deadly fungus has advanced into 24 counties, and at the Grant County site where the fungus was first detected in the state in 2014, DNR surveyors this year found 16 bats compared to 1,200 four years ago, Boyle said.
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