Bats play irreplaceable ecological roles and face multiple threats. Protecting roost sites and reducing persecution are the most important welfare interventions available.
Bat welfare is primarily a conservation welfare issue - the threats that reduce bat populations eliminate the lives of individual bats who would have existed. Roost destruction during building renovation is particularly damaging because bats return to traditional roost sites year after year - loss of a roost forces bats into less suitable sites or causes mortality. Bats killed by wind turbines die from internal hemorrhage caused by rapid pressure changes - barotrauma rather than blade strikes - a painful death from tissue damage. Persecution of bats from misunderstanding or rabies fear causes unnecessary killing of animals that would not bite humans under normal circumstances. The welfare of bat populations depends on roost protection, turbine curtailment during high bat activity periods, and public education that replaces fear with appreciation.