NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA) has received confirmation that two bats have tested positive for White Nose Syndrome (WNS), a white fungus that is responsible for the deaths of thousands of bats in the Eastern United States.
     This is the first record of White Nose Syndrome in Tennessee. The bats were hibernating in Worley’s cave in Sullivan County.  Three tri-colored bats were collected by the TWRA and submitted to the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) in Madison, Wis. for testing last week.
Last spring the state of Tennessee, National Park Service, and USDA Forest Service and Tennessee Valley Authority closed caves on public lands in Tennessee in an attempt to slow the spread of the fungus. The Nature Conservancy also closed caves located on their lands in Tennessee.
Scientists are trying to determine the cause of WNS and its effects. Once a colony is affected, the fungus spreads rapidly and has killed at least 95 percent of bats at one New York hibernation site in two years. Other northeastern U.S. monitored bat colonies affected by WNS are experiencing similar large fatalities. There have been no reported human illnesses attributed to WNS and there is currently no evidence to suggest that WNS is harmful to humans or other organisms.

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