Bats provide vital ecosystem services and face significant welfare threats. Roost protection and human-bat coexistence strategies support both bats and the environments they sustain.
Bat welfare intersects with conservation and human attitudes in complex ways. Bats are frequently feared or misunderstood, leading to illegal roost destruction. Because bats are long-lived and reproduce slowly (usually one pup per year), population losses have sustained impacts. Individual welfare concerns include roost disturbance, which causes hypothermia in roosting bats and abandonment of pups, and light pollution, which prevents insectivores from foraging effectively. The welfare and conservation case for roost protection and light pollution management is mutually reinforcing.