Mysterious fatal bat disease poses threat to agriculture, scientists say

AMERICA’S bats are dying in their hundreds of thousands due to a mysterious illness called white-nose syndrome, and efforts to save them could prevent billions of dollars in agricultural losses, scientists say.

In a paper published in the journal Science, bat researchers estimated that a single colony of 150 brown bats in the US state of Indiana eats around 1.3 million pest insects a year, and that the value of such bats to agriculture may be around $22.9 billion (€16.26bn) a year.

They criticised a lack of funds and efforts to save the bats and to find out more about what is causing their widespread population decline. The current “wait-and-see” approach is unacceptable, they said.