Emily Chan
“These bats are not from the United States, but they’re being sourced from across Asia and then brought here and used as decor,” said Nistara Randhawa, a co-leading study author and a data scientist and epidemiologist at UC Davis. “With this study, we hope to raise awareness and propel the conservation of this species.”
The researchers used data collection to analyze the online bat trade across the websites eBay, Etsy, and Amazon during the 2022 Halloween and Christmas seasons. Overall, 856 bats were listed for sale, and 215 were for painted woolly bats, representing a total of 284 individual woolly bats.
They were shipped from 19 states, with Tennessee accounting for 45 percent of painted woolly bat listings. It sold more bats than any state, followed by Illinois, California, and Florida. Together, these three states made up 27.5 percent of painted woolly bat vendors.
The study authors are supporting a legal petition filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Monitor Conservation Research Society to protect painted wooly bats under the Endangered Species Act. They are also calling for further studies to better understand the challenges that the bats face.
