No Bats Here

The popularity of bat taxidermy has been on the rise within the last few years. Even those who don't or wouldn't collect any other taxidermy still have an interest in bats. I have heard it described as an aesthetic or gothic decor. 
Even one buyer who wishes to remain anonymous said they love gothic decor and a taxidermy sleeping bat wrapped in its own lifeless wings is the ultimate gothic home decor. 
You can purchase cheap bat skulls, entire skeletons, taxidermy and mummified bats online from places such as Wish, AliExpress and eBay (shipped from China or Indonesia) for as little as $7.50 for a poorly cleaned looking bat skull. 
I found a poor little whole bat cast in a resin block for $29 plus free shipping on AliExpress and when I pretended I wanted to purchase it, it allowed me to add up to 350 units of the same type of bat in resin. I even got a discount the more I added (of course I didn't purchase any). I noticed the description said it was "ethically sourced", so to further my investigation I messaged numerous sellers to ask where these bats were from. 
I contacted 8 different companies on AliExpress enquiring about the bats in resin. 3 replied and gave me a brief description of a bat farm and even an address of where it was located and if I copied and pasted the address onto Google maps, it showed me warehouses in concrete cities. This is not what I describe as a "farm". 1 seller was determined to make a sale and didn't give much away apart from ensuring me the bats were ethically sourced and the other 4 never replied. 

If you think about it like this, for example, one vendor purchased 350 units at the same time of dead bats and then on that same day 100 other vendors around the globe also purchased 350 of that exact same bat product. That's 35,000 dead bats entombed in resin sold that day and there is nothing ethical let alone sustainable about that.


What if I had previously purchased bat taxidermy but I had no idea and I was told by the vendor it was farmed and died naturally. Should I throw it out? 
I have seen people ask this question so many times. People who were naïve to the facts, who were tricked into thinking they had purchased something that had died naturally. 
I say don't throw it away. Unfortunately, the bat has died, but the deed is already done. It would be even more of a waste to be thrown away. I say keep it and appreciate the life that once was. As an individual, you aren't to blame, vendors know or some don't know where the bats really come from and they still choose to go ahead and purchase them in bulk. 

How do you know that the bats weren't farmed and didn't die naturally?
Having multiple and continuous stocks of a bat species is the proof. How many of these bats are dying naturally each month to keep numerous vendors sto
Pipistrelles bats are a tiny, cut and common bat in the UK and they do not survive well in captivity and they're not the only ones. However, I had a bat taxidermy seller on Etsy tell me she gets Pipistrelles bats from an ethical farming program in England. However, they look just like the bats from AliExpress in the resin blocks. Whether or not this person on Etsy purchased them from someone who told them this or whether they were ordered from AliExpress or Wish is hard to say. I don't want to straight out accuse vendors of knowingly doing the wrong thing when some may also be naïve to facts and have been told a different story. 
While some may order these cheap pieces from China because the price is appealing and the market is hot, some may get these from another vendor that has spun a story of ethics. Thus, this cycle continues. 

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How can I help? 
You can help bats by spreading awareness of this trade in all its truth. I suggest researching any taxidermy piece before it is purchased, not just bats. A lot of people feel more strongly towards animals they consider pets such as cats and dogs and these pets defiantly come under the spotlight of outrage towards them being harmed by many. Then there are those who don't see a dog or cat any less of a life than a bat. 
The truth is, bats are vulnerable and many species of them are on the decline and research is suggesting that it is because of a popular spike in the vulture culture trend of these specimens. 
There will still be those who will tell me I am misinformed. 
There are still going to be Aussie vendors selling a mass production of these animals who block me whenever I enquire or even just because of reading this. 
There will be those who claim they are doing it because they are their most popular piece and without the bat taxidermy they wouldn't make as many sales. 

My question to them, is a bat's life or an entire species really worth a quick sale? 
I have never, and nor will I ever, sold a bat specimen in my life and I am doing okay. The bats are just an easily obtained and popular oddity which, unfortunately for these little creatures, just happens to be their biggest downfall at no fault of their own.