White-nose syndrome is a disease caused by a pathogen called Pseudogymnoascus destructans: a cold-loving fungus introduced from Europe that grows on the skin of bats when their body temperature drops during hibernation. Lesions on the wings of infected bats affect their ability to retain water, forcing them to wake up to rehydrate. These frequent disturbances eat away at fat stores, causing the bats to starve before spring arrives. This disease was first detected in Canada in 2010, and by 2015 it had caused a 94 per cent overall decline in hibernating myotis bats in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec. The sudden and dramatic impact of white-nose syndrome led several vulnerable bat species to be added to the federal Endangered list in 2014. In response, Wildlife Preservation Canada and the Hunter Foundation funded a feasibility assessment to determine whether captive management could address this growing threat. The research explored several key questions: Can we find suitable numbers of bats to establish a conservation breeding program? Do existing facilities like zoos and wildlife rehabilitation centres have the infrastructure and expertise to keep large bat colonies and reintroduce them to the wild? And if successful reintroductions are possible, will it actually mitigate the effects of white-nose syndrome?
