Bats provide critical ecosystem services but face threats from white-nose syndrome, wind turbines, and habitat loss. Their welfare and conservation are deeply intertwined.
Bat welfare spans individual suffering from white-nose syndrome, wind turbine strikes, and roost disturbance to population-level collapse that affects entire colonial species. White-nose syndrome causes mass mortality where dying bats lose insulating fat reserves and arouse repeatedly during hibernation, exhausting their energy reserves. Conservation interventions that address disease, habitat protection, and wind turbine management all reduce individual welfare costs.