White-nose syndrome caused by the invasive fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans has killed over 90% of affected bat species in North American caves, causing enormous individual suffering.
Bats dying from white-nose syndrome undergo prolonged starvation and exposure as repeated arousal from hibernation depletes fat reserves needed to survive winter. The distress of repeated unnatural arousal and the desperate winter foraging attempts represent significant suffering across millions of individual animals. The scale of bat population collapse threatens the ecosystem services they provide including insect pest control worth billions of dollars annually. Research into probiotic and antifungal treatments represents both a welfare and conservation investment of enormous potential impact.