HUNKERING DOWN: The Cold War bunker into which Steve Agius, Scott Darling, and colleagues, transplanted sick bats for the winter.SUSI VON OETTINGEN, USFWS
Last winter, Steve Agius of the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in northern Maine found himself decorating a Cold War-era bunker, instead of a Christmas tree. And rather than hanging ornaments, he was hanging bats.
In late December, biologists in Vermont and New York State collected 15 little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) from each state and delivered all 30 to the northeast corner of Maine—just a few hundred kilometers due east of Quebec City. All of the bats showed signs of white-nose syndrome (WNS), a fungal disease that has been decimating bat populations across many states, and the researchers were hopeful that the animals would survive the winter in a disease-free spot.
To minimize stress in the hibernating animals, the bats were transported in a climate-controlled ...
