Providing artificial roost sites for bats supports populations under pressure from habitat loss and building renovation, improving welfare for ecologically essential urban wildlife.
Bat welfare in human-dominated landscapes depends on maintaining roost site access alongside food availability. As old buildings are renovated and mature trees removed, natural roost availability declines, affecting both welfare of individual bats displaced from established roosts and population-level viability. Bat boxes — artificial wooden structures that mimic the narrow crevice roosts that many species prefer — provide supplementary roost habitat at low cost. Their welfare value is highest when installed in appropriate locations with correct orientation and thermal properties, and when combined with maintenance of invertebrate-rich foraging habitat nearby. Urban gardens that support moth and beetle populations by reducing lighting and pesticide use directly support bat foraging welfare in ways that extend the benefit of roost provision.