The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) today announced the eastern small-footed and northern long-eared bats may warrant federal protection as threatened or endangered species, following an initial review of a petition seeking to protect the species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

An award of $122,822 from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division, is enabling Allen Kurta of Biology to continue for another four years his surveys on bats in the numerous abandoned underground copper and iron mines and caves in northern Michigan, primarily the Upper Peninsula.

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has received confirmation that white-nose syndrome, a disease that has killed more than one million bats in eastern North America, now is in Maine. Until this year, Maine appeared to be insulated from white-nose syndrome while states and provinces outside its borders were not. However, during surveys conducted by MDIF&W biologists this spring, bats at two sites in Oxford County displayed visible signs of white-nose syndrome fungus on their wings and muzzles. Carcasses collected from one of the sites were sent to the U.S. Geological...

WASHINGTON -- The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today unveiled a national management plan to address the threat posed by white-nose syndrome, which has killed more than a million hibernating bats in eastern North America since it was discovered near Albany, New York in 2006.