COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- Tours of wild bat caves at Rock Bridge Memorial State Park will be cut in half this spring.
Park Superintendent Jim Gast says the tours will be offered only the last two weekends of April. Tours the first two weekends of May have been cancelled.
Gast says the tours were reduced to protect the endangered gray bats that use the caves to give birth to their young.
The Columbia Tribune reports that Gast says the number of gray bats declined last year. He says it's unclear why but the tours were reduced to try and help the bats.
In addition, anyone who toured caves in the northeast United States since Feb. 15 will not be allowed in Devil's Icebox. Park officials are trying to avoid the spread of white-nose fungus, which is decimating bat colonies in many eastern states.
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