New Mexico: Bat Disease Spreads
By The Associated Press

White-nose syndrome, a mysterious disease that has ravaged bat populations in the Northeast, is threatening to spread West, potentially causing a mass die-off of bats, which help control populations of insects , a conservation group said. The Center for Biological Diversity sent letters this week to state wildlife officials, urging them to consider closing state-owned caves to the public to prevent the spread. More than a million bats have died since the disease was first documented in upstate New York in 2006. It has been detected as far south as Virginia and now as far west as Missouri.

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