Bats face twin threats from habitat loss and white-nose syndrome, with welfare and ecosystem consequences for insectivore populations across North America.
Bats dying from white-nose syndrome experience a prolonged welfare ordeal: repeated arousal from hibernation in winter by fungal irritation leads to fat depletion and death by starvation and dehydration before spring. For colonial bat species, entire hibernacula containing thousands to hundreds of thousands of individuals have been affected. At the individual level, death from metabolic exhaustion over weeks represents significant suffering. Conservation and welfare responses include biocontrol fungicide research, habitat protection, and probiotic applications to hibernating bats.