White-nose syndrome caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans has killed over 6 million North American bats, causing individual suffering and devastating population collapses across multiple species.
White-nose syndrome causes significant individual suffering in affected bats. The fungal infection irritates skin during hibernation, triggering repeated arousal that burns critical fat reserves. Bats that emerge prematurely from hibernation in winter die from starvation and cold exposure. The late-stage disease involves severe wing membrane damage that impairs flight and foraging ability — a welfare harm that persists even in surviving bats. The scale of mortality — millions of bats — means the aggregate welfare impact is enormous, while each individual bat experiences distress and death from a disease introduced by human-facilitated fungal spread. Conservation responses including habitat protection, cave gate management to reduce human fungal spread, and probiotic treatment research serve both individual welfare and population recovery goals.