Capstones
Graduation Date
Fall 12-13-2025
Grading Professor
Lam Thuy Vo
Subject Concentration
Business & Economics
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Abstract
This investigative article examines the online illegal trade of taxidermied bats and how the sales are threatening one particularly showy species: the painted woolly bat.
My OSINT research shows where the bats are still sold – from Amazon to independent websites offering bulk orders – and tracks the sellers and buyers, while weaving in the scientific and cultural history this little-known colorful bat and the conservationists’ race against time to protect them.
The very existence of the painted woolly bat is threatened by Americans who want to display the dead bats in their homes as spooky decorations. Researchers (including a CUNY biologist) identified the sale of taxidermied Kerivoula Picta on eBay and Etsy as playing a substantive role in the decline of the species, which is now near-threatened. Since that report came out last summer, my OSINT research has found that sales of the bats have quietly moved from eBay and Etsy to Amazon and independent websites, where they are still available.
I’ve interviewed scientists, researchers, and advocates who are directly involved in the multi-pronged effort to protect the painted woolly bats. My capstone takes readers from online sellers to a secret bat village in Thailand to the wet markets of Indonesia to examine how the worldwide trade is impacting a tiny bat that weighs no more than a sugar cube.
Recommended Citation
Carlson, Coralie, "A Halloween Decoration’s Scary Implications for Real Bats" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/817
