White-nose syndrome has killed over 6 million bats in North America. This devastating disease causes individual suffering at massive scale and threatens entire bat species.
White-nose syndrome causes individual suffering at enormous scale. Bats affected during hibernation are roused repeatedly by skin irritation from fungal growth, depleting the fat reserves they need to survive winter. Bats that emerge prematurely in winter conditions cannot find insect prey and die from a combination of starvation and cold exposure. The physiological stress of repeated arousal and the final deterioration from starvation and cold involve genuine suffering for individual bats. At the population level, the loss of 90% of some species represents a near-extinction level welfare and conservation crisis. Research into interventions including probiotic bacteria that suppress the fungus and UV light treatments represents both a welfare and conservation priority.