Deadly bat disease spreading fast, scientists warn Congress

By Carrie Wells | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A mysterious disease that's killing tens of thousands of bats in the Northeast is spreading so fast that it could reach California within five years, biologists and officials of the Agriculture and Interior departments told lawmakers Thursday.

"Never in my wildest imagination would I have dreamed of anything that could pose this serious a threat to America's bats," Merlin Tuttle, a biologist with Bat Conservation International who's studied the creatures for 50 years, told two House of Representatives subcommittees.