A file photo of brown bats hibernating in New Mammoth Cave near LaFollette, Tenn.A fatal bat disease, white-nose syndrome, has been found in a cave in the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.
A biologist and volunteers working within the park collected two tricolored bats in a park cave in Hamilton County.
One of the two bats tested positive for white-nose syndrome, a disease that already has killed nearly 7 million bats across the eastern United States.
Scientists say the disease and bat deaths may have a huge impact on nuisance insects such as mosquitoes and agricultural pests.
Read more in the Thursday edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.