An example of ecological traps for bats in the urban environment

Abstract

Urban environments have semi-natural features that attract some groups of wild animals such as bats, which belong to one of the most diverse groups of mammals remaining in cities. There are limited numbers of examples of ecological traps for bats in urban environments. We describe a case of high bat mortality in one concrete building (Kharkiv city, 50° 0′ N, 36° 15′ E Ukraine) where we found 157 carcasses of Nyctalus noctula killed by cats over the winter 2014–2015. We suppose that cats killed mainly healthy individuals with a higher ratio of females than in the total sample size. We are describing this case of bat mortality as an ecological trap. Moreover, we presume that the real number of bats killed by free-ranging cats could be higher, up to several hundreds per winter. In addition, it is a specific way for disease transfer that could affect public health. European bats are under special protection and in such cases, conservationist and animal welfare activists attempt to protect bat hibernation aggregations from any negative impacts.