Bats are essential to healthy environments and human economies globally – However, they are in alarming decline due to White-nose syndrome (WNS), caused by the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, has devastated Pennsylvania’s bat populations since 2008, killing 70-90% of hibernating cave bats, particularly little brown bats, by forcing premature arousal from hibernation.

How do Bat Boxes help?
Bat boxes help combat white-nose syndrome (WNS) in Pennsylvania by providing safe, warm, and dry roosting habitats for surviving little brown and big brown bats, allowing them to rebuild populations and avoid unhealthy/overcrowded hibernacula. They are critical to restoring bat populations.

Bats are primary controllers of insects that fly at night. Single colonies of cave-dwelling bats can consume hundreds of tons of insects annually. Furthermore, bats pollinate and carry seeds for many of our planet’s most important plants. Read more from Bat Conservation and Management, to learn more about bats and types of Bat Boxes you can install!

If bat decline is not reversed, we could face dire consequences, such as:

•         Billions of dollars of agricultural and forestry losses in single countries;
•         Dramatically increased reliance on pesticides that can cause cancer and dementia;
•         Increased threats from mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and West Nile virus;
•         Famines caused by loss of bat pollination of food staples like bananas; and
•         Droughts due to ecosystem failures caused by loss of insect-eating, pollinating, and seed-dispersing bats.