Research into white-nose syndrome treatments including probiotic bacteria and vaccines offers hope for protecting bat populations from this devastating fungal disease with massive welfare implications.
WNS treatment research represents one of the most significant wildlife welfare intervention opportunities of the decade. A disease that kills millions of bats through prolonged suffering - repeated arousal from hibernation, dehydration, and starvation - demands treatment development proportional to its scale. Probiotic approaches that could be deployed at hibernaculum scale without individual handling offer the most practical treatment pathway for wild populations. The welfare benefit of successful WNS treatment would extend to entire bat species facing population collapse. Supporting research into WNS treatments is a high-leverage welfare intervention for anyone concerned about wild animal welfare.