From the urgent (you’ve been touched or bitten) to the everyday (a bat in your house), fast guidance for every kind of encounter.
Bats roost in attics, awnings, barns, sometimes for decades. Here’s how to coexist safely, manage a colony, or report one on a property you’re buying or selling.
Bat biology, BC’s 15 species, real-world safety, white-nose syndrome, and the conservation science that shapes our work.
See all in About bats →Summer evening bat counts, acoustic surveillance, ambassador training, Bat-Friendly Community certification, bat boxes. The province-wide network runs on people.
See all in Help bats →Guides, downloads, and outreach materials tailored to who you are, a homeowner, a teacher, a kid, an industry partner.
See all in Resources →Reach a regional coordinator, get in touch with us, browse the latest, or meet the partners and funders behind the work.
Support our work DonateThey wait for the light to leave.
A field guide to the night skies of British Columbia, fifteen species, more than any other province in Canada, and a quiet crisis hiding in the dark.
Time-sensitive. Bites or scratches need same-day medical attention.
Live with them, exclude them safely, or get a free biologist visit.
Vetted designs, placement that works, and a provincial registry.
Bat counts, WNS surveillance, Ambassador training. No experience needed.
Bats play a vital role in British Columbia's ecosystems by controlling insects, transporting nutrients and supporting biodiversity. Their life history and biology are unique and fascinating.
BC is home to at least 15 species of bats, the largest diversity of bats in Canada. Many Canadian bats are endangered and at risk due to habitat loss, white-nose syndrome disease, wind turbines, and human disturbance.
BC homeowners and property managers can apply our bat-friendly guidance to safely coexist with bats and protect bat habitat. Our dedicated volunteers contribute to bat conservation by counting bats, collecting guano and specimens, reporting bat sightings and sharing science-based information about bats with others.
Conserving bats helps keep ecosystems healthy for everyone.
Remarkable, mysterious, and unlike any other mammal.
They help control pests, pollinate plants, and support healthy ecosystems.
Habitat loss, disease, and human impact are putting many bat species at risk.
With awareness and action, we can help protect bats and the places they need to survive.
BC Community Bat Programs is a non-profit initiative that supports bat conservation across the province by:
When Pseudogymnoascus destructans was first identified in a New York cave in 2006, no one in British Columbia thought it would matter here. By March 2023, the fungus had been confirmed on the BC mainland. Some bat populations in Eastern Canada have collapsed by more than 90 percent.
BC's response is now one of the most coordinated in the country, a network of caves under acoustic monitoring, a dead-bat reporting protocol that runs each winter from November to May, and a citizen-science effort that has logged more than 8,000 surveillance reports.
What we know is improving. What we can do depends on whether enough people care to look up.
White-nose syndrome
Little Brown Bat · Greeley Mine, Vermont · March 2009 · Photo: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
From the rainforests of Vancouver Island to the dry interior of the Okanagan and the northern Peace, Community Bat Programs are delivered locally by coordinators who know their landscape, and the bats that live in it.
Updates from regional coordinators, research from our partners, and the quiet victories that add up across the province.
The Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF), in partnership with the BC Community Bat Program and Wildlife Conservation Society Canada's Alberta Community Bat Program, have launched the
The BC Community Bat Program is encouraging residents to leave bats alone. At this time of year bats are moving around. This means people are more likely to see them. For the sa
The BC Community Bat Program would like to welcome Christina Lake as our newest Bat Friendly Community.
Community Bat Programs run on grants, partnerships, and the people who decide a bat colony in their attic is a guest worth keeping. Your gift funds biologist visits, acoustic monitoring, and the regional coordinators who hold this network together.
Donate here
