Dead bats in N. Idaho [memos/emails]

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Several memos from 1 and 9 May 2014 discuss the discovery of dead bats in bat boxes at Ball Creek Ranch in Boundary County. It's unclear from the memo exactly when the dead bats were discovered, but their burial occurred approximately 23 April 2014 (i.e., "a week before" Ed Buchler and Jenny Taylor visited the ranch on 30 April 2014). One memo mentions that the caretaker, Kennon McClintock, discovered "500+ dead bats in the highest reaches" of deteriorating bat boxes while cleaning them out to prepare for refurbishing. Another of the memos mentions McClintock found "500 to 1000 dead" [total] in the two boxes he was cleaning out and that the bats had "been dead for some time (over winter)".... Buchler mentions that the colony had been doing so well (he'd counted >2000 little brown myotis there several years before this time) that he hadn't set up counts there for several years. Given the need to know the bat populations in the state and to monitor for white-nose syndrome, Dixon stresses the need to monitor the bats at Ball Creek Ranch (and asks how she can support the effort), get any dead bats to the Wildlife Health Lab for necropsy, and let her know about any other bat colonies. Ball Creek Ranch colony is the only maternity colony known to Buchler.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Mammals