I doubt that this information being known will further endanger bats.
If people bother to learn it might even better protect bats by reducing
interactions. Like you, I greatly like bats. Heck, I used to be a bat
rescuer locally and Little Brown Bats were my favorites, with two of
the ones who for a while used to have repeated problems with the
entryway lattice work locally getting to know my voice so well that
they would just climb into my net when I came for them. (One of those
was a male I rescued from dehydration and the other was a female who
had three claw scars across her belly. One of the bats used to
sometimes follow Steve and me when we took night walks if I began
talking; we suspect it was one of those two.)

The biggest danger to bats in the U.S. right now is not the people
who don't know enough to know how to properly remove them from a home
(which is how people commonly encounter them) by watching and waiting
till they leave at dusk and then sealing the openings the bats have
been using while wearing protective gear including to avoid breathing
in guano till the holes are sealed and the guano is properly and
carefully cleaned up, and not handling bats that are found but letting
a local animal control agent or other professional do so. (In studies
in the U.S. 5% of bats able to fly and 15% of bats who were "down" had
rabies but most bats who were down were suffering from poisoning. Some
of the poisonings have been from poisoned insects and some have
happened in homes since some places incorrectly use rodenticides which
usually just weaken the bats and increase the chances of bats and
humans, or bats and pets (including ferrets) interacting, plus those
powders can sift down through cracks and seams in ceilings and enter
the areas where pets and people commonly live, causing health problems
including bleeding ones for pets and people.)

The biggest danger currently is related to previous largest danger:
people entering hibernaria where the bats sleep, especially in the
day when bats are there, and most especially anytime day or night in
the Winter when rousing should be minimal.

Not having bats in the area (but not in the home) is actually a far
worse risk for both pets and people because they are the best control
animal for mosquitos and mosquito-borne illnesses are a much larger
health risk for most of us, including for heartworm in ferrets.

The biggest danger to bats in the U.S. these days is a European form
of fungus (recent genetic work was done on the fungus which is how the
ID came about) which is causing White Nose Syndrome. That has already
killed millions of bats. In states like the one where Steve and I live
the Little Brown Bats which were once so common that we could easily
watch dozens each Summer night near the pond and street lights are
now rare enough that they may be entered onto the endangered lists.
The situation is worse for some other species such as the already
challenged Indiana Bat. The fungus increases the number of rousing
times during the cold months and also it eats through tissue. It is
possible to hold the wings of infected bats up to lights and see areas
where the tissue is being thinned away.

It is thought that someone who used caving equipment or caving
clothing/boots in Europe then used the same pieces in a U.S. cave and
a result transferred the fungus to the U.S. in that way. It is easy
to see how such an error could take place. People have favored and
expensive pieces they use, but they don't realize that they then can
transport hitchhikers such as fungi which should not be transported
to other locations. Caving equipment should not be used in different
regions, let alone in different continents.

There is *possibly* some good news. A recent cave survey has shown that
in one area there seems to be a slight increase in those bat numbers
after a bottoming out, BUT that might simply be bats using the
hibernarium who had not used it before, so the counts have to continue.
Hopefully, it means that individuals with better resistance to the
fungus are breeding. Bats live for decades and replenish their
populations very slowly, though, so the number of bats and increased
risks from mosquito borne illnesses are going to be with our pets and
us for quite a long time. (If memory serves the study was done in NY
state but afterward I will search to see if I have some links handy to
put at the bottom. If not see Science News for the genetic ID of the
fungus and how it got there, and if I am recalling right see ProMed for
information on the recent cave survey.)

Viruses don't make a leap due to lack of hosts; although some are
airborne they usually make leaps due to interactions or close
encounters with bats or their waste or saliva. The leaps just happen;
there is no thought or directional process. If people want to avoid
further paramyxoviruses making the leap from bats to people then the
ways to do that are also the best ways to protect bats. Stay out of
hibernaria, especially in the cold months when the bats should not be
disturbed, behave logically when bats are in the home (See above for
how attics are correctly tackled and then be certain to read more in
expert refs since I can only give the briefest insufficient info.),
avoid interactions with bats by you or your pets, and -- as people in
some other parts of the world have found -- avoid eating bats since
quite a number of nasty illnesses have been transmitted in that way.

Yes, there are a lot of myths about bats out there such as some people
thinking that they like hair. No, they do not go for hair. (On the
other hand, in tropical birdhouse in a California zoo years ago a very
yellow bird decided that my blonde hair was the perfect attractant to
add to his nest and I got to lose a lot of hair to him during my time
in there while he went back and forth weaving it into his nest while
we watched and I ouched.)

When looking it appears that I did not save all of those refs but here
is a bit:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/339816

Begin brief quotes:
>"The European version is even nastier than the North American one,"
>says Craig Willis, a wildlife biologist at the University of Winnipeg
>in Manitoba...

>fungus Geomyces destructans... animals quickly developed white-nose
>syndrome, a disease named for the telltale mask of threadlike fungal
>growths it leaves on bat faces. Harder to see but more devastating,
>G. destructans eats through the skin of a bat's wings and begins
>digesting inner tissue... findings suggest the American strain is a
>recent immigrant from Europe...

(Sukie note here: the European strain is even deadly than the one
brought here but bats in Europe have resistance, and the strain brought
here has become a bit less deadly than the fungus still in Europe.)

>those infected with the American fungal strain roused three times as
>frequently -- and those with the European strain four times as often
>--during hibernation

End brief quotes

Note that perhaps 7 million bats have died so far and that the disease
has now crossed the Mississippi River. and in
http://www.promedmail.org/
click open in menu on your left:
22 Apr 2012 White nose syndrome, bats - North America (14): (NY)
recovery

Begin Brief Quotes:
>Figures released Thursday [19 Thu 2012] by the state Department of
>Environmental Conservation showed notable increases in the number of
>little brown bats in three out of five upstate New York hibernation
>caves where scientists first noticed white nose decimating winter bat
>populations 6 years ago. The largest cave saw an increase from 1496
>little browns last year to 2402 this winter...
>
>Scientists fear the disease could push some species to extinction and
>dramatically reduce the population of an animal [which] farmers depend
>on for natural pest control...
>
>The survey found that statewide losses of little browns, the most
>common bat species in New York before white-nose, remain at about 90
>percent...

<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/339806/title/Bat_killer_is_still_spreading>
<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335566/title/Cause_confirmed_in_bat_scourge>
<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/335592/title/Science_%2B_the_Public__Infected_bats_can_recover_._._._with_lots_of_help>
<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/333675/title/Helping_Bats_Hold_On>
<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/74002/title/Fungus_strikes_but_doesnt_kill_European_bats>

[Posted in FML 7413]