BATS AS PETS

People sometimes desire having a bat as a pet. Yes, bats are beautiful and something we all love, but the act of keeping one as a pet will cause it to experience great terror, inappropriate and damaging nutrition, loss of it's right to enjoy reproduction and rearing if it's young, and terrible loneliness and boredom. Wild bats are capable of living over 25
years. Bats kept as pets rarely survive more than one year.

Additionally, bats are protected by law at many levels. Regulations govern the taking of bats from the wild, and any exchange between individuals or organizations. The transfer of bats is carefully regulated by the CDC. USDA permits from the Animal Health Inspection Service are required, and special permitting regulations now apply at the state level. Interstate laws also prohibit transport of these animals without special authority. 

To keep bats in captivity one must be USDA licensed, and have the necessary state and local permits for native wildlife. Bats cannot be transported within the USA without a CDC permit. Bats can only be transferred to an institution that is bona fide conservation, zoological or  scientific organization or registered establishments that have approved facilities and certified education programs.

Although the rabies virus is maintained at a very low frequency of infection in wild bat populations, bats and other wild animals are considered to be a rabies vector species and special administrative codes under the Departments of Health and Zoonosis Control address this issue. Valuable information is also provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention biohazard regulations as they pertain to bats.

If you truly love bats and would like to get involved in helping them, consider becoming a wildlife rehabilitator. There are wildlife rescue centers in almost every state that give classes and offer volunteer opportunities in wildlife rehabilitation. Contact your state department of wildlife for more information. There are also workshops of all kinds available specifically for the study and care of bats. 

Overview on wild and exotic pets
from The Association of Sanctuaries 

The keeping of wild and exotic "pets" is on the rise around the world and especially in the United States. For example:

If you are thinking about keeping a wild or exotic animal as a pet, we invite you to reconsider the impact upon the animal and his native environment as well as the risks to your family and yourself.

The growing displacement of wild animals into human domestic space creates immense suffering for animals and frequently for humans as well. Here you will find a set of public education and outreach materials that discourage the private ownership of wild and exotic pets. These materials:

Our message is simple: wild animals need to remain in their natural habitat, not captive in human domestic space.

Wild Animals as "Pets"

People try to keep wild or exotic creatures as pets for a variety of reasons:

Many owners and potential owners of wild animals see themselves as "saving the wild," whether "the wild" is an actual creature or place, or an inner spirit or psychic terrain. Yet these reasons do not take into account the self-willed nature of the animals, their ability and their need to live free in their natural habitat.

For wild or exotic animals are by nature wild and do not respond well to captivity. As adults, many become destructive and physically dangerous while others carry diseases such as Herpes B or salmonella, potentially lethal to humans. Further, wild animals do not make good pets. They rarely do tricks, they ignore their owners, and they are difficult and expensive to care for. Whether wild-caught or captive bred, even the exotic animals seen in pet shops—parrots, reptiles, turtles, frogs, snakes—are wild by nature and have not been domesticated. The urge to buy them should be resisted, for the outcome is almost always tragic.

The Consequences

For humans, forcing an animal to live separated from all that sustains his natural existence can be a costly venture. Potential owners rarely know:

Nor are they aware of what the purchase of such a creature supports:

A sense of failure, guilt, and loss, a sense of "what have I done?" and "if I'd only known" are often all that remains from an animal lover's misguided attempt to make a wild being serve as a pet.

The effort and expense required to maintain a wild or exotic animal outside of her natural domain occurs because humans have separated an animal from the habitat best suited for her life. In her own place, in her native home, an animal takes care of herself with minimal impact on the environment and its other creatures, including its human inhabitants.

Even captive bred animals suffer when kept as pets, for they are:

Animal welfare organizations estimate that, depending on the species, as many as 90% die in the first year of being kept as a pet.

Wildlife Trade: The Big Picture

In the United States, the growing number of displaced animals results from an exotic animal market fueled by legal and illegal importers, trappers, breeders, dealers, zoos, pet stores, and the public itself. Zoos, circuses, and other animal acts respond to the public's demand to see baby animals by breeding. The result is a surplus of animals who have no place to go. They end up being sold to roadside zoos, or becoming exotic meat, food for other carnivores, or trophies in canned hunts.

Breeders and pet stores also play on the demand for baby animals, selling them as "pets." But when the novelty of having a wild or exotic pet fades or the animal's adolescent or adult demands become unmanageable, these creatures are relegated to cages in backyards, garages, basements, or worse. Some are resold, thus reentering the animal market, what has been aptly called the surplus animals' "cycle of hell." Only a few arrive at sanctuaries. Other unwanted pets are abandoned or killed. Their lives neither take place nor end in their natural home, the one place where those lives and those deaths belong.

TAOS is currently working with a global coalition of professionals in captive animal welfare to address the problem of trade in captive wild animals.

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