Urban bats including pipistrelles and brown long-eared bats face welfare challenges from light pollution that disrupts foraging, roosting and reproduction in city environments.
Light pollution is an invisible but significant welfare and conservation issue for urban bats. Bats that cannot emerge and forage because of disorienting artificial light experience reduced foraging efficiency, increased energy expenditure from delayed emergence, and reproductive stress from disrupted circadian rhythms. The shift to LED street lighting, while energy-efficient, has created new problems for bat species in previously managed urban areas. Preserving dark corridors and bat-friendly areas in cities, using wildlife-friendly lighting and shielding fixtures, and protecting roosting sites during development can significantly improve urban bat welfare.