Conservation Efforts. . This script may be used and modified, but the copyright notice must remain intact. Some of the main reasons are habitat destruction and vandalism by ignorant humans. Because bats have long been feared as a source of danger and disease, people often think little about destroying their colonies when they are discovered. An even larger threat to bats has been the swelling use of pesticides in commercial agriculture.
Bats feed primarily on insects, which have often been exposed to pesticides.
Pesticides then build up in the tissues of the bat, and they sicken and die. The California Bat Conservation Fund works alongside several wildlife conservation groups to alleviate people's fear of bats and demonstrate that they are vital to a healthy ecosystem. During the past few years, thanks to the California Bat Conservation Fund and its partner organizations, farmers have begun to understand that encouraging bat populations can be a viable alternative to many toxic pesticides. In one night, a single bat can eat more than its own body weight in insects. In addition, researchers have demonstrated that even artificially broadcasting bats' echolocation calls over crops can reduce insect damage by up to 50 percent.