Bat colonies face severe welfare threats from roost disturbance and the devastating fungal disease white-nose syndrome. Understanding these threats helps advocates protect millions of individually suffering animals.
White-nose syndrome causes prolonged suffering in individual bats: repeated arousal from torpor during winter is physiologically costly, and the progressive depletion of fat reserves leads to starvation over weeks while bats remain conscious. Affected bats have been observed flying in daylight during winter — a behavioural anomaly indicating severe physiological distress as they attempt to forage when no food is available. Roost disturbance during hibernation causes similar starvation risk even without WNS. Maternity roost destruction during summer leaves flightless pups to starve or die of hypothermia. The welfare harms to individual bats from WNS and disturbance are severe and affect millions of individuals annually across North America and increasingly Europe.