The dead bats are found with a white fungus around their noses, and the ailment is being called white-nose syndrome. Federal officials say it killed 8,000 to 11,000 of the voracious insect-eaters in New York State last year. So researchers are closely monitoring one of Pennsylvania's largest bat caves, in upper Bucks County.
Naturalists know it by the resounding name of the Durham Mine Bat Hibernaculum. In winter, the three-chambered former iron ore mine is a hibernation haven for 5,000 to 10,000 bats.
So far, no white nose has been seen, but researcher Pat Barbosa says Pennsylvania is not in the clear. Barbosa says the disease spread from four caves in New York to caves all across the Northeast, and "no one knows where it will go next."
