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ROCK BRIDGE MEMORIAL STATE PARK -- Tours of wild bat caves at Columbia’s Rock Bridge Memorial State Park will be cut in half this spring.

Park Naturalist Roxie Campbell said the tours will be offered only the last two weekends of April.

Tours during the first two weekends of May have been cancelled.

Campbell said the tours were reduced to protect the endangered gray bats that use the caves to give birth to their young.

“We’re not sure if it’s the disturbance from the cave tours," Campbell said. "For example, it seems that they may be moving from cave to cave more than they have in the past.  This is a measure to protect them while biologists are trying to figure out what is going on.”

This spring’s cave tours also have some new restrictions.

Anyone who toured caves in the Northeast United States since the middle of February will not be allowed in the Devil's Icebox at Rock Bridge State Park.

Park officials are trying to avoid the spread of white-nose fungus, which is hurting bat colonies in many eastern states.