Adopt a Bat!
Want to support one of the most fascinating creatures in our community?
When you adopt a bat through HAT, you’re helping support bat conservation in our region while getting to know one of these incredible animals. Your adoption package includes an adoption certificate, a bat sticker, and fun information to help you learn more about your new bat buddy!
Join us in giving bats the care, habitat, and protection they need to thrive!
Your Adoption Package Includes:
🦇 Adoption Certificate: an official adoption certificate to proudly show off your commitment
🦇 Meet Your Bat: learn all about your new buddy, the little brown myotis
🦇 Bat Sticker: get a specially designed bat sticker by local W̱SÁNEĆ artist Sarah Jim
🕸️ 1 sticker for 1 bat
🕸️ 2 stickers for 2 bats
🕸️ 5 stickers for a colony
🦇 The warm, fuzzy feeling of knowing you’re helping to protect local bats
Note: Your adopted bat will stay in the wild; it’s a symbolic adoption, but the impact is real!
Why Support Bats?
Bats are our ecosystem superheroes! They are vital to our ecosystems, lives, and economy, yet are nearly invisible to us day-to-day.
These incredible creatures control insect populations in BC by consuming mosquitoes and pests and spreading nutrients between ecosystems. Despite their small size, the little brown myotis is an extraordinary insect hunter, capable of eating over 600 mosquitoes in just one hour! They use echolocation to navigate and hunt in complete darkness and can live up to 30 years, a remarkable lifespan for such tiny mammals.
In other parts of the world, bats are essential pollinators for over 500 plant species, including bananas, mangoes, and guava. They also distribute seeds over vast areas, ensuring new plant growth and maintaining biodiversity. Their guano is an excellent fertilizer and cycles nutrients that benefit the entire ecosystem!
Unfortunately, bats face severe threats that put their populations at risk. Habitat loss from urban development, loss of wetlands, and logging reduce the places where bats can roost and raise their young. Pesticides and other chemicals harm the insects they rely on for food. Climate change affects migration patterns and hibernation cycles. For local species, the female only give birth to one pup per year, making their populations are vulnerable to decline and conservation efforts critical for their survival.
One of the most devastating threats bats are facing is white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that affects bats during hibernation, disrupting their sleep and depleting energy reserves. This disease is causing massive declines in bat populations across North America. The little brown myotis and the Northern myotis are both listed as endangered in Canada due to white-nose syndrome. Of the 15 species of bats in BC, 10 are considered at risk or endangered.
Bats have also gained an undeserved bad reputation! There is real danger in the lack of understanding about bats and their essential role in the ecosystem. The more we educate ourselves about bats and overcome stereotypes and fear, the sooner we can ensure their safety in our community. By becoming better informed about bats, their needs, behaviours, and how we can coexist safely, we can help support them in this region.
By adopting a bat, you’re helping HAT to…
Educate communities about bat conservation and bust bat myths
Provide safe bat evictions for homeowners
Build bat boxes for displaced bat colonies
And support bat research and protection through BC Bat Count initiatives!
Adopt a Bat is part of HAT’s commitment to the BC Community Bat Program. As the organization responsible for coordinating the Southern Vancouver Island chapter of the BC Community Bat Program, HAT aims to share information about the importance of bats and encourage residents to get to know these often misunderstood members of our ecological community.
Adopt a Bat between October 1 and December 15. Whether you’re adopting solo or gathering friends to support, every little bit helps.