Fungus detected in Sutter County bats could lead to issues for crops

    SUTTER COUNTY, California (KOVR) -- Just in time for Halloween, bats are in the spotlight. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has detected a fungus in some Sutter County bats and there's a chance they could start dying within the next few years.

When you think of pests like mosquitos and crop-eating insects, you might not think of the unsung heroes of the night, bats. In Sutter County, nature's pest controllers could be in danger and that may spell trouble for the area's agriculture.

"If you drive through Sutter County on the right night and in the right area, you end up with just a mess on your windshield from bugs that you hit," said Sutter Yuba Mosquito and Vector Control District Manager Stephen Abshier.

Sutter County has a lot of bugs, especially in the warmer months. The only flying mammals, bats, love to eat them. It's a beneficial and symbiotic relationship between bats and farmers, but a fungus that can turn into a deadly disease, called white-nose syndrome, has been identified in bats in five state counties, including Sutter.

"Last year we found it in just one county, so our results this year are an expansion of the fungus that causes the disease," said Katrina Smith, with CDFW.

The white-nose syndrome occurs when fungus invades the skin tissue of bats, degrading their wings while hibernating. Infected bats will likely show signs of white fuzz on their nose and wings.

"So far we haven't seen any signs of the disease, but the swabs that we take to test for the presence of the fungus, has been coming back positive from the labs," Smith said.

If the fungus turns into white-nose syndrome, it causes the bats to wake up early from hibernation, at a time there aren't enough bugs to eat. Then they burn through their reserves, often resulting in death. But neither the fungus nor disease can infect humans, pets or livestock.

"If white-nose syndrome impacts California's bats to the level we see population impacts, population decline, we might also see an increase in insect abundance, see more agricultural pests or more insects on the landscape," Smith said.

"About 1-3 percent of a bat's diet is mosquitos," Abshier said.

Bats play a vital role in our ecosystem, especially in agriculture and grasslands. Each bat can eat thousands of insects a night.

"It's estimated they provide $3.7 billion of pest control services to farmers across the country," Smith said.

The CDFW encourages people to use their online bat reporting tool.