From 1988 to 1996, it was evaluated as possibly extinct, and from 1996 to 2004 it was evaluated as [[data deficient]].
It meets the criteria to be listed as an endangered species because its area of occupancy is likely less than {{convert|500|km2|mi2|abbr=on}}, all individuals are likely in fewer than five locations, and the extent of its habitat is in decline.<ref name="iucn 2008"/>
In 1999, MacPhee and Flemming considered it allegedly extinct since roughly 1878,<ref name="MacPhee 1999">{{cite journalbook |last=MacPhee |first=R.D.E. |last2=Flemming |first2=C. |year=1999 |chapter=Requiem Æternam |editor-last=MacPhee |editor-first=R.D.E. |title=Extinctions in Near Time |series=Advances in Vertebrate Paleobiology |volume=2 |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |doi=10.1007/978-1-4757-5202-1_13 |isbn=978-1-4757-5202-1}}</ref> though it was rediscovered shortly after their paper was published, in 2000.<ref name="Fleming 2010">{{cite book|editor-last1=Fleming| editor-first1= T. H.| editor-last2= Racey| editor-first2= P. A.| date=2010|title= Island bats: evolution, ecology, and conservation| publisher= University of Chicago Press| page=502|isbn=9780226253312}}</ref><ref name="Burgess 2000">{{cite book| editor-last1=Burgess| editor-first1=N.D.| editor-last2=Clarke| editor-first2=G.P.|title=Coastal forests of eastern Africa|isbn=978-2831704364|location=Gland, Switzerland|publisher=IUCN Forest Conservation Programme}}</ref><ref name="Maas 2014">{{cite web|last=Maas| first= P.H.J.|date= 2014|title= Rediscovered Species and Subspecies| publisher= TSEW (2017). The Sixth Extinction Website| url=http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct-archive/lists/rediscovered.htm| access-date=November 21, 2017}}</ref>
In addition to habitat destruction, this species is also threatened by collection for use in [[traditional medicine]].
The [[Sukuma people]] believe that [[pneumonia]] can be treated by burning the body of a Tanzanian woolly bat and inhaling the smoke.
