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Whether they're sold pinned in display cases or crammed into tiny fake coffins, painted woolly bats are collected from the wild to be killed, stuffed, and hung on walls thousands of miles from their homes.
The United States is the largest known market for trade in these unique orange-and-black bats, who are native to South and Southeast Asia. Their populations are declining, and their biggest threat is overcollection for decor. In recent years the United States has imported many hundreds of painted bats directly from the wild.
In fact in just 12 weeks, a new study found 215 listings for painted woolly bats on Amazon, eBay, and Etsy alone. That's not OK.
And the problem isn't new — researchers have been raising conservation concerns about the hunting and sale of taxidermy bats as decor for almost a decade. Painted bats are especially vulnerable to collection because they only have one baby bat at a time, so they'll have trouble bouncing back once populations are even more depleted.
Beyond being breathtakingly beautiful, these bats play an important role within their ecosystem and for people, consuming insects around fields and providing natural pest control wherever they go. With the extinction crisis worsening every day, the world can't afford to lose this or any other irreplaceable species.
These special animals aren't knickknacks. They're much more magnificent alive and thriving for generations to come.
Tell Amazon, Etsy, and eBay to stop selling painted woolly bats so their populations can again flourish in the wild — where they belong.