The fungus that causes the deadly white-nose syndrome in hibernating bats has been detected in Texas, according to federal and state officials.
The fungus has been found in an area northeast of Lubbock, near Childress, according to Lesli Gray of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
First discovered in New York in the winter of 2006-07, white-nose syndrome has spread quickly through the U.S. and Canada. It is now confirmed in 30 states and five Canadian provinces. The discovery of bats in Oklahoma with the syndrome suggested the detection of the fungus in Texas “was not unexpected, but is unfortunate,” Gray said.
The fungus Geomyces destructans causes the disease that has killed millions of North American bats. Nationwide, bats and their appetite provide billions of dollars in pest control.
The prospect of white-nose syndrome has long concerned Austin bat-watchers. But the Mexican free-tailed bats, as many as 1.5 million of which emerge nightly from under Austin’s Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, are not the sort of hibernating bats that have been most vulnerable to the fungus.
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