The coming transitions

We went camping recently in one of Montana's national forests. Aside from some amazing scenery in a remote location, we stumbled across a bat that was dying in the middle of the road just outside of our campsite. My girlfriend believed the bat had some sort of message for her and when we came home, she put together a page about bats. In so doing, she discovered that bats are in decline across the globe. In the US a few years ago, a virus called white nose syndrome was discovered to be killing 95% of the bats it infected. This disease is rapidly spreading through the US and killing huge numbers of bats. It is predicted to reach California from the East Coast in a matter of years, threatening the bats in this country with extinction. Why should we care? Other than the fact that bats are living creatures and should be considered important in and of themselves, they are also pollinators and predators for insects. Their extinction could mean a lot of damage to agricultural production, which is compounded by the colony collapse disorder of bees everyone is talking about. Consider the fact that migratory bird populations in the US are also in decline, and we are starting to see that our web of life is in serious trouble. Lets not forget that birds are also a significant predator of insects and garden pests.