Colorado Parks and Wildlife has announced that a bat at Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site in Otero County outside of La Junta, Colorado has test positive for Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the fungus that causes White Nose Syndrome (WNS) in bats. The positive skin swab sample was collected on June 1 from a Yuma bat (Myotis yumanensis) with no visible signs of WNS. Of the 25 bats sampled that day, results included one positive, 20 negative, and four inconclusive findings.
Note that this is the first confirmed detection of Pd in the state of Colorado. Also note that there still at this time are no confirmed cases of WNS itself yet in Colorado, although it is now likely that there will be in the future. Colorado is home to 19 native bat species, at least 13 of which may be susceptible to this disease. WNS has decimated some bat populations in the Eastern US and Canada, and has been spreading westward across the country over the last decade.