Bat caves being monitored by Game Commission
High-tech cameras are helping the Pennsylvania Game Commission keep a watchful eye on bat populations. Real-time photos are being sent from bat cave locations to wildlife conservation officers via text message. These photos allow the officers to see when trespassers are intruding on bat populations that have already taken a blow in recent years from white nose syndrome.
Donations from the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wildlife For Everyone Endowment Foundation have given the Game Commission the tools to monitor sensitive bat caves. Some of Pennsylvania’s bat species have seen population’s decline by nearly ninety-nine percent. These creatures are important to the environment. Bats help to control mosquitos and other insect populations.
“It doesn’t matter who the person is, or what their motivation is for going into a cave or mine,” said Greg Turner, a bat biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. “All anybody would have to do is walk into one of these caves and talk, or walk into one and shine a light around, and while that type disturbance might seem small, it almost certainly would rouse bats and it might well push them beyond any chance of surviving through the winter.”
To read the complete Game Commission News Release on this topic, please visit: Bat Caves
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