White-nose syndrome has killed over 90% of some North American bat species. Understanding this disease crisis reveals the scale of wildlife welfare harm from emerging fungal pathogens.
White-nose syndrome causes prolonged suffering and death in hibernating bats through a mechanism of repeated arousal from torpor. Each unnecessary arousal burns calories that hibernating bats cannot replace in winter. Infected bats emerge from caves in winter, disoriented and starving, and die from exposure or starvation. The scale — millions of individuals over a decade — makes this one of the most significant wildlife disease welfare events documented in North America. Individual bats experience the distress of arousal, hunger, and ultimately fatal energy depletion.