Bats face many common threats, such as habitat loss, disturbance, and mortality caused by White-Nose Syndrome and wind turbines. Yet one of the most insidious threats to bats worldwide, one that arguably causes the most bat mortality of all, is human persecution caused by fear.

The current global pandemic is amplifying already existing, unreasonable fear of bats. There are documented incidents in several countries of mass slaughter of bats, because of media sensationalism. Yes, it appears a virus found in one species of Old World bat seems to be a distant relative of Sars-CoV2. But the two viruses diverged 40-70 years ago and are no more similar than we are to chimpanzees. This (Old World) bat virus cannot spread from bat to human. It is humans that caused this pandemic and who are spreading it around the world. Killing bats is not a solution to preventing outbreaks of zoonotic diseases.

A recent Reddit post asked us “Aren’t bats virusy AF?” According to a recent paper by Nardus Mollentze the answer is: No more so than other orders of mammals or birds. He finds that “The proportion of viruses that infects humans varies minimally across reservoir taxonomic orders”.

Recent resources that offer a balanced view about the possible origins of COVID-19:

” … the pandemic was caused by people. “ -Bat Conservation Trust

“There has been a flurry of research since, and now we know this is extremely unlikely for a couple of reasons.” -Dr. Tigga Kingston

“Moreover, there is no evidence that bats infected humans with COVID-19 to begin with.” -Amy Fraenkel

“Public overreaction to hypothetical threats of disease…” -Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation

“…premature speculation about bats has been exaggerated in attention-grabbing media headlines.” -Merlin Tuttle’s Bat Conservation

“…bats are no more likely to transmit zoonotic viruses than other groups of mammals.” -From Melissa Ingala & Ariadna Morales

“Public speculation about the link between bats and diseases is dangerous and unhelpful…” -Dr. Sheema Abdul Aziz