Scientists use a variety of tools to identify where bats go after they leave their summer roost, in hopes of finding where they hibernate so park scientists can assess their vulnerability to White Nose Syndrome (WNS). WNS is a fungal disease that affects bats during hibernation. It is often displayed as a powdery white substance around infected bats’ muzzles and wings. It has killed millions of bats in the US, up to 99% of some populations. In addition to using acoustic detectors and radio telemetry, scientists are partnering with Rogue Detection Teams to use scent-trained dogs to find bat hibernacula (hibernating roosts) at Mount Rainier National Park.
Rogue Detection Teams has worked in other national parks (including Yosemite and Acadia) and other protected areas around the world. Detection dogs are considered a noninvasive tool to survey for wildlife and the trained dogs, who are fetch obsessed, are only interested in the odors they are taught as a means to play fetch.
Training the dogs involves four steps. First, park scientists collect and dehydrated bat guano (bat feces) as well as tiny clippings of bat fur for scent training. The Rogue Detection Team trainers hide these around the landscape and into rock crevasses, mimicking, from the dog's point of view, where the bat hibernacula typically are (scree slopes, rock outcroppings). The dogs are then introduced to the odor of live captured bats (captures are conducted by NPS personnel). The bats are held by trained professionals, the dogs sniff the bat, and are then rewarded immediately afterward with their ball. Naturally deceased and desiccated bats are utilized to spread their odor on rock formations to simulate swarming activity. The final stage is using a "hot spot", or a location in the wild where there is a known population of the target species, to transition the dogs from introduced odors (which have human odor affiliated with it) to locating a bat odor on their own in the wild.
Photos: Collette Yee with Rogue Detection Teams ~kl
