Woodward had few signs of the disease over the winter of 2009.   The cave was heavily monitored in the winter of 2010 (See the next tab).  Researchers from Missouri State University in Springfield, MO, and Bucknell University in Lewisburg, PA, collected data on little brown bats hibernating in Woodward Cave to see if they can help determine the cause of WNS.  White-Nose Syndrome is a large-scale epidemic that is killing cave-dwelling bats in the northeast while they are hibernating. WNS is named after a white fungus that grows on

affected bats’ nose, wings, and tail membrane.

Over the winter of 2010, tragically, almost all the 4.000 bats died.  They were found out on the landscape in February and March around the cave property. 

Researchers returned to the cave in February, 2011, to examine the bats and test their metabolism to see if they were in proper hibernation.  They measured their body temperature with infra-red cameras, then gently stroked a few with a comb to gradually wake them up.  Their rate of arousal and increasing body temperature was carefully monitored to see if the bats appeared to be in their normal deep hibernation.  Bats were weighed and carefully photographed for evidence of White Nose Syndrome.