By Angela Hatton
Cadiz, KY – Kentucky wildlife management officials say they won't be able to test bats again for white nose syndrome until November. In April, officials confirmed the first cases of the fungus at a cave in Trigg County. Wildlife Diversity Program Coordinator Sunny Carr says right now bats are mating and raising young, and they can't be studied. However, Carr says it is possible they can spread the spores that cause white nose.
"The bats groom themselves and you don't visibly see the fungus, but they're still a lot of unknowns about how viable those spores are on the bats and in the environment over a long period of time and at different temperatures, different times of the year, but that is certainly a possibility."
Carr says once a cave is infected, it will stay infected. No cure for white nose bat syndrome has been found. Tourist attractions like Mammoth Cave have taken precautions to limit the spread. The fungus has killed an estimated one million bats since 2006.