Pathogens 2021, 10, 304. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10030304 www.mdpi.com/journal/pathogens Perspective Zoonotic Risk: One More Good Reason Why Cats Should Be Kept Away from Bats Valeria B. Salinas-Ramos 1 , Emiliano Mori 2 , Luciano Bosso 1, *, Leonardo Ancillotto 1 and Danilo Russo 1, * 1 Wildlife Research Unit, Dipartimento di Agraria, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, via Università 100, 80055 Portici, Italy; valeria.salinasramos@unina.it (V.B.S.-R.); leonardo.ancillotto@unina.it (L.A.) 2 Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Ricerca sugli Ecosistemi Terrestri, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy; emiliano.mori@cnr.it * Correspondence: luciano.bosso@unina.it (L.B.); danrusso@unina.it (D.R.), Tel: +39-08-1253-2017 (L.B. & D.R.) Abstract: Bats are often unfairly depicted as the direct culprit in the current COVID-19 pandemic, yet the real causes of this and other zoonotic spillover events should be sought in the human im- pact on the environment, including the spread of domestic animals. Here, we discuss bat predation by cats as a phenomenon bringing about zoonotic risks and illustrate cases of observed, suspected or hypothesized pathogen transmission from bats to cats, certainly or likely following predation episodes. In addition to well-known cases of bat rabies, we review other diseases that affect hu- mans and might eventually reach them through cats that prey on bats. We also examine the poten- tial transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the causal agent of COVID-19, from domestic cats to bats, which, although unlikely, might generate a novel wildlife reservoir in these mammals, and identify re- search and management directions to achieve more effective risk assessment, mitigation or pre- vention. Overall, not only does bat killing by cats represent a potentially serious threat to biodi- versity conservation, but it also bears zoonotic implications that can no longer be neglected. Keywords: bat; cat; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; spillback; spillover; zoonotic risk 1. Introduction The ongoing COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019) pandemic has highlighted the primary role of wildlife in zoonotic events (e.g., [1]) that due to the high density and mobility of the human population can spread rapidly over large regions of the globe. While much of the public attention has focused on the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 as a human pathogen, there is little doubt that the causal factors that originated the spillover lie directly or indirectly in the consumption of bats by humans, frequent in Asia [2]. More generally, there is consensus on the fact that zoonotic diseases are strongly fa- vored by the ever-growing deforestation and expansion of farmland and urban areas at the expense of natural habitats, increasing the opportunities for wildlife–human interac- tions, as well as for wildlife traffic and consumption [3]. It is therefore clear that a holistic approach to the prevention of zoonotic diseases taking into account humans, wildlife and environmental socio-ecological dynamics is necessary to prevent future spillover pro- cesses and pandemic events. The zoonotic risk associated with wildlife is often multifaceted and may involve several actors. Therefore, only accurate surveillance of all the species that take part in the human–wildlife interaction network may indeed lead to effective prevention and miti- gation. Domestic animals may play a crucial zoonotic role in bridging wildlife and hu- mans in situations where direct human–wild animal contact would otherwise be rare, amplifying the pathogen or acting as a vessel for genetic variation [4]. To mention one example, in the case of the Nipah virus in Malaysia, domestic pigs acted as amplifiers of the virus carried by fruit bats and passed it on to humans [5]. Citation: Salinas-Ramos, V.B.; Mori, E.; Bosso, L.; Ancillotto, L.; Russo, D. Zo- onotic Risk: One More Good Reason Why Cats Should Be Kept Away from Bats. Pathogens 2021, 10, 304. https://doi.org/10.3390/ pathogens10030304 Academic Editor: Magda Dunowska Received: 29 January 2021 Accepted: 1 March 2021 Published: 5 March 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu- tral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and insti- tutional affiliations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses /by/4.0/).