A few words of introduction from your friends at Bat Conservation International

Celebrate Bat Week by Supporting Our Mission

By Karen Kimbell, Director of Philanthropy

O

ctober is a time to celebrate Bat Week—and to celebrate you. Your passion for bats and commitment to conservation are what drive progress and make global impact possible. Across the U.S. and around the world, your support combines with strong partnerships—with agencies, nonprofits, universities, and local communities—to protect bats and their habitats.

In this issue of Bats, you’ll see how that shared effort is making a real difference. We highlight the 10-year anniversary of the North American Bat Monitoring Program, a remarkable collaboration that involves more than 480 partners collecting and sharing data to inform conservation decisions.

You’ll also read about how the binational efforts of BCI’s Agave Restoration Initiative team recently earned recognition from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with a Recovery Champion award.

You’ll also meet the scientists working tirelessly to identify and understand the world’s more than 1,500 bat species by taking measurements in the field, recording acoustic data, and analyzing genomes to better understand and protect these remarkable animals.

You’ll also read about how the binational efforts of BCI’s Agave Restoration Initiative team recently earned recognition from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with a Recovery Champion award. Additionally, we focus on sharing the wonder of bats with others, including a recent training with Latino Outdoors in San Antonio that taught 10 eager conservationists how to lead Bat Walks in their community.

Your impact stretches far beyond North America. In Comoros, your support has helped bring Livingstone’s fruit bat (Pteropus livingstonii) back from the brink—leading to its downlisting from Critically Endangered to Endangered.

As Bat Week approaches, we hope you’ll take time to enjoy the many events happening this October and catch a screening of “The Invisible Mammal,” a documentary that shares some of the powerful bat-saving work you’re helping make possible. If you’re inspired to do even more, consider making a donation to support BCI’s mission or exploring planned giving options at batcon.org.

Because when you give to BCI, you’re not just supporting bat conservation—you’re leading it.

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