November, 12 2015, 03:00pm EDT
Bat-killing Fungus Reaches Nebraska
LINCOLN
State and federal wildlife officials announced today that a bat-killing fungus that has swept across the eastern United States and Canada over the past eight years, killing millions of bats, has been confirmed by scientists in eastern Nebraska. Samples taken from bats in a mine in Cass County, Neb. at the end of last winter tested positive for the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome; the bat species found with the fungus were northern long-eared bats, tricolored bats and big brown bats.
The highly lethal disease that follows the fungus is not yet present, but this early detection is likely a precursor to the disease's full-blown appearance in two to three years. Mortality rates among some species, such as northern long-eared bats, have reached 99 percent in many bat colonies in the East and Midwest.
"The spread of white-nose syndrome has been an extinction tsunami sweeping out of the eastern United States. Eventually it is going to break in the West, and there, it will encounter many new bat species potentially vulnerable to the disease," said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Given the failure of state and federal wildlife agencies to provide the strong, additional legal protections several eastern bats now need to survive, the prospects for western bats are troubling."
White-nose syndrome has spread to 26 states since it first appeared in North America in 2006. Bats in Mississippi, Minnesota and Oklahoma have tested positive for the fungus. Nebraska now joins the list of states where the fungus has been detected.
"The combination of white-nose syndrome with other threats, such as habitat degradation, environmental toxins, industrial wind turbines and climate change, may be more than these vulnerable bat species can handle," said Matteson. "Given that healthy bats have, at best, one bat pup per year, the capacity for these populations to bounce back is low. It's possible it will take until my great-grandchildren are born for these bats to achieve stable populations again. It's also quite possible my great-grandchildren will never see these bats because by then, they'll have vanished."
The protection of white-nose affected bats has been a highly contentious issue. For example, industries such as timber, oil and gas, mining and wind energy opposed the listing of the northern long-eared bat earlier this year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service weakened protection for the species, listing it as "threatened" instead of "endangered."
Background
White-nose syndrome has been called the worst wildlife health crisis in recent memory, and has caused mortality rates ranging up to 100 percent among bats in affected caves. There is no known cure for the disease, which has afflicted seven bat species so far and has pushed several of them to the brink of regional extinction. Many leading bat biologists have emphasized precautionary measures, such as closures and site-specific caving gear requirements, as the best management response.
Scientists have estimated the economic value of insect-eating bats to American agriculture at $22 billion annually. Bats also eat tons of insects harmful to forests, and their guano is essential to the survival of extremely rare cave organisms like cave salamanders and fish.
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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"Congress is shamefully choosing a failed approach of fueling genocide rather than saving Palestinian and Israeli lives," said Rep. Cori Bush.
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Progressive lawmakers on Friday dissented as the Republican-controlled U.S. House advanced legislation to provide more military funding to Israel as well as Ukraine and Taiwan, with Rep. Cori Bush condemning a committee's refusal to consider an amendment aimed at securing a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
The legislation passed a procedural hurdle in a vote of 316-94, placing votes for the separate aid packages and a bill calling for more humanitarian assistance to Gaza on the legislative agenda for Saturday.
Bush (D-Mo.) joined progressives including Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in opposing the legislation, with centrist Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina also voting with the left-wing faction.
The Missouri Democrat condemned the House Rules Committee's refusal to consider an amendment she submitted along with Tlaib, which called for a lasting cease-fire, a release of all hostages in Israel and Palestine, and "diplomacy to secure self-determination for both Palestinians and Israelis."
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The funding package includes $26.4 billion for Israel, purportedly to support "its effort to defend itself against Iran and its proxies" following Iran's retaliatory drone attack on Israel this week—to which Israeli forces responded with a limited attack on Friday.
The new military aid was passed on top of more than 100 weapons transfers the Biden administration has made to Israel since October 7. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, two of the transfers were reviewed by Congress and totaled about $250 million.
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Undeterred by Columbia University's sanctioning of a crackdown by the New York Police Department in which at least 108 people were arrested on Thursday for protesting Israel's war on Gaza, dozens of students continued to camp out on the campus' West Lawn Friday as solidarity protests cropped up at other schools across the country.
Students at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) set up tents at a rally, while the Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee announced a walkout to express solidarity with "steadfast Columbia students" and emergency protests were announced at Boston University; Miami University in Oxford, Ohio; and Ohio State University.
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National Students for Justice in Palestine, whose Columbia University chapter was shut down late last year after members protested against the institution's investments in Israeli companies and partnership with Tel Aviv University, called on all of its chapters across college campuses to join in solidarity actions.
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At the impromptu rally at UNC, students chanted, "No justice, no peace!"
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Friday is Indigenous Peoples Day in Brazil, and tribal leaders and activists used the occasion to criticize the left-wing government of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for falling short on promises to safeguard native land rights.
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