The Canadian National Bat Health Program, coordinated by the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC), received its funding since its inception over a decade ago through several contribution agreements with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). The CWHC appreciates our ongoing partnership with ECCC and is grateful for their long-term financial support of the National Bat Health Program.
Our current contribution agreement, funded through the Canada Nature Fund, expires March 31, 2026, effectively ending the services provided to our collaborators and partners in the bat conservation and recovery community (i.e., biologists and wildlife managers in federal, provincial, and territorial governments with the mandate for wildlife health; wildlife professionals in the Not-For-Profit sector; and researchers and university scientists).
We reflect on the accomplishments and contributions we have been able to make to our partners and to the protection and recovery of endangered bat species in Canada.
The program was launched in response to the devastating effects that white-nose syndrome had (and continues to have) on North American bat populations. Through our program we were able to bring together experts from across the continent and develop surveillance and diagnostic resources, as well as track and report on the spread of the disease for our partners, providing opportunities for early detection, mitigation, and recovery.
We were the Canadian coordinator for the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat) as well as provided support for other regional and national bat monitoring initiatives, such as the Neighbourhood Bat Watch, helping to increase capacity and consistency in bat monitoring, reporting, and data collection to promote an evidence-based understanding of bat population changes in Canada.
As a member of the North American Bat Conservation Alliance (NABCA), we participated in the assessment of the state of North American bat species and their threats. We also delivered annual reports on the health status and concerns of Canadian bats, helping inform wildlife management agency decisions and allocation of personnel and financial resources.
We contributed expertise and knowledge to help develop important guidance to promote welfare and monitoring of bats in Canada. Among these are: Welfare and handling recommendations for bat censuses in Canada, How to manage bats in buildings, a Guide for bat monitoring in Atlantic Canada, and A qualitative approach for assessing the maternity roost habitats of Myotis species and tri-colored bats for wildlife management purposes.
Participating in many outreach initiatives in Canada and the rest of the continent, we helped promote and successfully deliver annual Bat Week events in Canada. We also developed other pertinent outreach materials, including information to minimize the risk of accidental translocation of bats, fact sheets on white-nose syndrome, rabies, and histoplasmosis, identifying funding sources for bat conservation, and delivering monthly newsletters to update Canada’s bat conservation community on the latest news and science.
The national coordination we provided enabled a rapid and effective response to highly critical emerging threats. For example, we provided guidance during the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, specifically related to the uncertainties around risk of infection of endangered bat species. To accomplish this, we rapidly engaged scientific experts to develop evidence-based techniques to protect bats from potential harm from this and future pathogens using precautionary principles. These principles were later adopted to develop Wildlife health and SARS-CoV-2 handling guidelines.
The CWHC operates under four core functions to deliver high quality wildlife health for Canadians: program management, monitoring, assessment, and knowledge mobilization; and the National Bat Health Program has been actively engaged in the coordination of all four of these activities for over a decade, resulting in the protection of the health of Canadian bat species, particularly those that are endangered.
We regret that this long-term program is coming to an end on March 31, but are confident that the legacy of our program lives on through the many resources that continue to be available on our website (https://www.cwhc-rcsf.ca/) as well as the extensive community created through the many partnerships encouraged through our network coordination. Additionally, we are working towards a collaborative funding model for the National Bat Health Program that we hope to share more details on in the near future.
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Written by: Jordi Segers