Forget Halloween — here's the scary story of a fungus coming for B.C.'s bats

This Halloween, the scariest thing biologist Cori Lausen can think of is British Columbia without its bats. 

For Lausen, a bat researcher at the Wildlife Conservation Society of Canada, it’s a terrifying reality getting closer all the time.

A fatal fungus called white-nose syndrome, which has killed millions of bats in Canada, is closing in on B.C.

The fungus grows on a bat’s nose, ears and wings in the winter. Bats will often starve to death because they burn through their stored fat trying to remove the fungus from their bodies. The fungus also rots their wings, creating holes and making it difficult for them to fly