Bats face threats from habitat loss, white-nose syndrome, wind turbines, and persecution based on fear. Their welfare and conservation are both significant and frequently neglected.
Bat welfare encompasses both the welfare of individual animals and population-level threats that affect the viability of colonies and species. White-nose syndrome causes a particularly distressing death: infected bats arouse from hibernation repeatedly in winter, depleting fat reserves, and die of starvation and dehydration. The progression of the disease through a hibernating colony causes mass death in enclosed spaces over weeks. Wind turbine mortality is typically rapid death from barotrauma, but survising injured bats may experience significant suffering before death or recovery. Roost disturbance during maternity season — when females are pregnant or nursing pups — causes colony abandonment and pup mortality. The welfare of individual bats is also relevant in rehabilitation contexts: bats are frequently admitted to wildlife rescue centres with injuries from cat attacks, road collisions, or entanglement, and require specialised care including correct diet of live insects and appropriate thermoregulation support. Persecution-based killing — poisoning roosts, destroying colonies — causes both direct suffering and population-level harm to ecologically vital species.