Bat populations face multiple threats including white-nose syndrome, wind turbine mortality, roost loss, and pesticide impacts. Conservation efforts protect both populations and individual welfare.
Bats threatened by disease, habitat loss, and direct mortality from turbines or roost disturbance suffer individual welfare harm alongside population-level impacts. White-nose syndrome causes bats to starve during hibernation after repeated arousals deplete fat reserves — a slow and distressing death. Building work during bat roost season causes separation of mothers and pups, leading to starvation of dependent young. Conservation measures protecting roosts, regulating turbine placement, and developing treatments for white-nose syndrome address welfare at individual and population scale.