A popular Pendleton County cave preserve owned by the National Speleological Society is closed because a deadly bat disease called White Nose Syndrome may have been found there.
The John Guilday Caves Nature Preserve includes about 40 acres on a hillside near Franklin overlooking the South Branch of the Potomac River.
Property manager Dave West says there are three main caves, Hamilton, Trout and New Trout where during the winter months hundreds of bats hibernate.
West was first alerted to the potential problem late last month when a visitor sent photos of two bats with fungal growth on their noses and wings.
An annual bat count last week turned up more evidence of White Nose Syndrome.
“On the way to the caves we found five dead bats along the trail, which is unusual,” West said. “In the one cave, New Trout, we saw no evidence whatsoever of White Nose Syndrome. In Trout Cave we found two bats that had some fungal growth.”
West was upset to find dead bats on the path leading to the caves.
“My stomach turned,” West said. It was very discouraging and very sad because I knew they didn’t belong there, that just made my heart stop.”
Trout Cave is gated to prevent people from entering during the winter months because the endangered Indiana Bat hibernates there.
West says so far none of the Indiana Bats have shown signs of White Nose Syndrome.
The bigger problem appears to be in Hamilton Cave where most of the bats were gathered just inside the entrance.
“As the counters proceeded to the rear of the cave, they observed that roughly a quarter of the bats they were counting, and they counted over 400 that day, roughly a quarter that they could examine were displaying a fungal growth that resembled White Nose,” West said.
When the group left the cave at twilight, a number of bats were leaving the cave presumably in search of food, which they normally don’t do in the cold months when there are no bugs to eat.
Bats with White Nose Syndrome eventually starve to death.
“We had a pathologist present at the cave,” West said. “She examined with a field necropsy kit one of the bats that had been found on the trail and found that it had no body fat. It had starved.”
The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources collected both live and dead bats for testing.
If results show they have White Nose Syndrome West says Hamilton Cave will be gated to prevent people from entering.
If the bats test negative for White Nose, West says the Speleological Society will pursue more testing to try to determine what’s killing the bats.