Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
BURLINGTON – Alyssa Bennett is a small mammals biologist who has worked at the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department since 2011. Her focus includes conservation of declining bat species.
Q. What drew your interest specifically to bats?
A. I got this job originally because we have so many species that are in trouble. We have five different bat species that are now listed as threatened or endangered in the state. Two of those are federally endangered, and a third is proposed to be federally endangered. I was able to get into this field after white nose syndrome caused pretty massive declines for some of these species and led to those listings.
Q. What is white nose syndrome, and how big of an impact has it had?
A. White nose syndrome is a fungal disease. It’s caused by a fungus that lives in the cold, moist environments that bats hibernate in, like caves and abandoned mines underground. These are places bats go for the winter when all the insects that they eat are gone and it’s too cold for them to be active.
They go into the state of what is known as torpor bouts, when their bodies are able to drop down to the temperature in the surrounding cave or mine, which is usually between about freezing and 45 degrees. The fungus that causes white nose syndrome had been found in Europe and Asia but was totally new to our bats when it was discovered in New York State in 2006. Vermont was the second state where it was discovered. And when it hit here in 2008, that winter and the next winter, we saw 90% of our hibernating bats disappear just within a year or two. That’s unprecedented for any kind of wildlife.
Q. Many people may think of rabies when they think of bats. How can rabies cases be prevented?
A. Certainly we do see rabies cases in Vermont and around the country. In the United States, it’s two to three people per year on average that die from rabies. I mean, we’re talking 10,000 people a year die from the flu. So in reality, the actual threat of mortality to people is super low.
Even though it’s less than 1% of the natural bat population, if somebody comes in direct contact with a bat, say it’s in their room while they’re sleeping and they’re not sure because bat teeth are so tiny and we don’t know if there’d been a bite. Or it’s around kids and you’re not sure if there was contact, those cases are referred to the Health Department. Those bats are submitted for testing. And we do get positive cases every year in bats, skunks, foxes and raccoons in Vermont. So there’s a big effort to be very, very careful with the disease. But really, in all honesty, you’re not likely to be bitten by a bat unless you’re picking one up and holding on to it, because it’s pretty sure that you’re a giant predator that’s going to eat it. So don’t pick them up and handle them. Let wildlife be wild.
Q. How does public outreach help with bat conservation?
A. I’ve been doing this job since 2011, just after the massive declines. That’s when we started doing a lot of public outreach to help people understand what was going on and convey the value of bats. I’ve seen people really change their minds about bats. Even if they still get creeped out and have that gut feeling, they feel badly that they’re in such trouble. So people have an empathy that they’ve developed for these species. They used to be thought of just strictly as a pest, as vermin. And now people’s attitudes have really changed, I think pretty broadly in Vermont. I am incredibly impressed with Vermonters, and certainly we do a lot to let people know what we’re up to and how they can help.
Q. What are you currently working on that is capturing your interest?
A. We’re working with Rutgers University to test out ultraviolet treatment in one of our mines in Vermont that’s owned by the Nature Conservancy. We’re going in and finding out how much of this fungus that causes the disease is in this site. Since it’s a human-made site, it seemed like a good place to test it because it’s not a cave with this natural ecosystem. When the bats are gone in the summer, we place a whole-room UV sanitizer in the mine which has ultraviolet light. We move out of the way so that we’re not impacted by it and the bats are all gone, but it essentially can kill off the fungus on the cave walls and ceilings. Then when the bats come in the next winter, they’re not subjected to it. So we’re trying to adjust the threat for them and see if that helps them. I find those types of new and innovative treatments to be really interesting.