Fruit bats adapting to urban environments face novel welfare challenges and create human-wildlife coexistence opportunities in modified Australian and Southeast Asian landscapes.
Urban flying fox welfare is shaped by the tension between individual bat welfare needs and human tolerance for large nocturnal colonies in residential areas. Dispersal attempts — using lights, noise, and water — cause significant acute and chronic stress welfare harms with poor long-term success. Evidence now shows that urban colonies, once established, cannot be sustainably relocated. Coexistence frameworks that manage human expectations, provide accurate public health information, and celebrate the ecological services of urban bats produce better welfare outcomes for both species than conflict management approaches.