Yes, bats are protected in Minnesota, but the level of protection depends on the species. The northern long-eared bat is listed as federally endangered under the Endangered Species Act, which makes it illegal anywhere in the United States to kill, capture, or harm one. Three other Minnesota bat species carry a state “special concern” designation that triggers monitoring but not the criminal prohibitions most people assume. Because telling bat species apart on sight is nearly impossible for a homeowner, the safe assumption is that any bat in your attic or barn may be a federally protected one, and you should follow Minnesota Department of Natural Resources exclusion guidance rather than try to kill the colony.
Which Minnesota Bats Are Protected
Minnesota Rules, part 6134.0200, lists four bat species as species of special concern:1Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Rules 6134.0200 – Animal Species
- Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus)
- Little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)
- Northern long-eared bat (Myotis septentrionalis)
- Tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus)
Special concern is the lowest of three state conservation tiers, below threatened and endangered. Under Minnesota Rule 6134.0150, species classified as special concern are explicitly not protected by Minnesota Statutes, section 84.0895, the state’s main law against killing or capturing listed wildlife.2Legal Information Institute. Minnesota Rule 6134.0150 The DNR tracks these populations, but the state criminal prohibitions that apply to endangered and threatened species do not automatically extend to them.
Federal law changes the picture for one species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified the northern long-eared bat from threatened to endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act effective January 30, 2023.3Federal Register. Endangered Species Status for Northern Long-Eared Bat That listing applies in every state, Minnesota included. The tricolored bat was proposed for federal endangered listing in 2022, but a final rule has not been published.4U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Tricolored Bat
The reason for the aggressive federal action is white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that disrupts hibernation. According to the DNR, the disease has killed 90 to 94 percent of bats in monitored Minnesota caves and abandoned mines since it was first confirmed in the state. Other listed species are being watched for possible reclassification.
What Federal Protection of the Northern Long-Eared Bat Prohibits
Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act makes it illegal to “take” a northern long-eared bat. “Take” is defined broadly: harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, wounding, killing, trapping, or capturing the animal.3Federal Register. Endangered Species Status for Northern Long-Eared Bat “Harm” reaches further still, covering significant habitat modification that injures wildlife by disrupting breeding, feeding, or sheltering. Importing, exporting, selling, or transporting one is also prohibited.5U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Section 9 – Prohibited Acts
The Act carries a defense for actions taken in good faith to protect yourself or others from bodily harm. Wanting bats out of your attic does not qualify.
What Minnesota State Law Prohibits
Minnesota Statutes, section 84.0895, bars anyone from killing, capturing, importing, transporting, or selling a species listed as endangered or threatened under state rules. It also bars selling or possessing with intent to sell items made from the skin, hide, or parts of such a species.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 84.0895 – Protection of Threatened and Endangered Species Under the state’s game and fish laws, “taking” means pursuing, killing, capturing, trapping, or netting a wild animal, and it includes assisting someone else in doing so.7Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 97A.015 – Definitions
Because all four of Minnesota’s listed bat species are currently classified as special concern rather than endangered or threatened at the state level, section 84.0895 does not directly apply to them.2Legal Information Institute. Minnesota Rule 6134.0150 Federal protection of the northern long-eared bat still controls, and the DNR can reclassify a special concern species as state endangered as new data comes in.
Section 84.0895 also contains narrow exceptions where it does apply. The commissioner can issue permits for scientific study, education, or activities needed to prevent injury to persons or property. In an emergency, a person may capture or destroy a member of a state-listed endangered species without a permit to avoid an immediate and demonstrable threat to human life or property, but only after live trapping and relocation have been considered and rejected.6Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 84.0895 – Protection of Threatened and Endangered Species
How to Legally Get Bats Out of a Building
Timing comes first. If a maternity colony has moved into your attic during spring or summer, wait until August to begin exclusion. Pups born earlier in the season cannot yet fly, and shutting the adults out while the young are still flightless means those pups will starve inside your walls. Mother bats locked out of the roost may also push into living space trying to reach them.8Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Permanently Excluding Unwanted Bats
The DNR recommends a three-step method. Seal every secondary entry point first, leaving only the most heavily used openings accessible until mid-August. Next, drape fine-mesh netting over those primary openings, fastened at the top and sides but left open at the bottom so bats can crawl out at night and cannot climb back in. Leave the netting for several days, or up to a week in cool or rainy weather when bats may not leave every night. Finally, once you are confident the roost is empty, remove the netting and permanently seal every opening.8Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Permanently Excluding Unwanted Bats
Do not use poisons or pesticides. The DNR warns that poisoning bats or using improper exclusion scatters sick or displaced bats through a neighborhood, raising the chance that people and pets encounter them.8Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Permanently Excluding Unwanted Bats If any of the colony are northern long-eared bats, chemical killing would also be an illegal take under the federal Endangered Species Act.
When You Can Capture or Kill a Bat for Rabies Testing
Rabies exposure is the one situation where capturing a bat is clearly justified. The Minnesota Department of Health identifies four scenarios that call for capturing the bat so it can be tested:
- Someone was bitten by or had direct physical contact with a bat.
- A person wakes up to find a bat in the room where they were sleeping.
- A bat is found in a room with a young child who cannot reliably describe what happened.
- A bat is found near someone who cannot reliably report whether contact occurred.
In any of these cases, contain the bat safely for rabies testing. If the bat is not available to test, the Department of Health recommends starting post-exposure prophylaxis, a series of rabies vaccine injections. When the bat is available, treatment is typically deferred until test results come back. Health care providers and the public can call 651-201-5414 for rabies consultations.9Minnesota Department of Health. Management of Human-Bat Encounters Animal Bites and Rabies Risk
Post-exposure prophylaxis for a previously unvaccinated patient involves wound cleansing, a dose of human rabies immune globulin, and four vaccine injections spread over two weeks.10Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rabies Post-exposure Prophylaxis Guidance Capturing or killing a bat to protect human health is recognized as a valid exception under both state and federal law.
Penalties for Harming a Protected Bat
Federal penalties under the Endangered Species Act are the ones that matter most for bats in Minnesota, because they attach to the northern long-eared bat. A knowing violation can bring a criminal fine of up to $50,000 and up to one year in prison. Civil penalties for knowing violations can reach $25,000 per incident, and a conviction can trigger revocation of federal hunting and fishing permits.11U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Section 11 – Penalties and Enforcement
If a Minnesota bat species were reclassified in the future as state endangered or threatened, a violation of section 84.0895 would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Under the general game and fish penalty statute, a gross misdemeanor conviction carries a fine between $100 and $3,000 and 90 to 364 days of incarceration.12Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Minnesota Code 97A.301 – General Penalty Provisions The state can also seek restitution for the ecological loss.
You almost certainly cannot tell whether the bat in your attic is the federally endangered northern long-eared bat or one of the three special concern species with no direct criminal protection. That uncertainty is the reason to treat every bat as a protected species, use one-way netting on the DNR’s timeline, and bring in a wildlife control professional when the situation is beyond a single bat. If anyone in your household may have been exposed, call the Minnesota Department of Health before thinking about wildlife law.