Due to the globally widespread SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV 2), which causes the disease Covid-19 in humans, there are still concerned questions from citizens in Germany to people working in bat protection and bat research.
The reason for the concern is the fact that the media regularly speculates about the origin of the human virus SARS-CoV 2 and bats are generally cited as a probable source. However, this is a highly simplified representation of a complex fact that needs to be corrected again and again to counteract misconceptions, baseless reservations and antipathies towards bats. We would like to make a contribution to this and summarize the current state of knowledge so that all those working in bat protection and bat research can react with good expertise to inaccurate or incorrect press articles or, for example, in advice on bat emergency telephones. After various organizations and institutions published factual information sheet at the beginning of the pandemic and a recommendation for action for bat protectors which were published in April 2020 and have experienced great dissemination and resonance, we would now like to make some adjustments due to the advancing state of knowledge. In doing so, we update 1. scientific facts on common questions and provide 2. updated recommendations for action and background on working with bats in times of SARS-CoV 2 (version 2.0) to protect against possible transmission of SARS-CoV 2 from humans to bats, which are also supported by 3. a strategy to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV 2 from humans to bats: risk assessment, adaptation, protection (BAS) according to IUCN is supplemented. This information sheet and the recommendations for measures will be adapted if there are new findings or if the pandemic situation changes. See PDF below:
Informationsblatt-SARS-CoV-2-und-Fledermäuse-in-Deutschland-2.0