Is It Illegal to Kill a Bat in Michigan? Penalties and Exceptions

In Michigan, it is illegal to kill a bat if it belongs to one of the five species protected under state law, and doing so can bring a fine of up to $1,000 and 90 days in jail under state law, plus federal penalties as high as $50,000 and a year in prison if the bat is also federally listed. The two species most likely to turn up inside a Michigan home, the little brown bat and the northern long-eared bat, are both protected. Narrow exceptions exist for genuine emergencies and for capturing a bat that may have exposed someone to rabies, but you cannot simply swat, poison, or exterminate a bat you find in your house.

Which Bats Are Protected in Michigan

Michigan’s endangered and threatened species list covers five bats. The Indiana bat is state-endangered. The little brown bat, northern long-eared bat, evening bat, and tricolored bat (also called the eastern pipistrelle) are state-threatened.¹

Two of these show up in houses. The little brown bat and the northern long-eared bat commonly roost in attics, barns, and wall voids. Both have been hit hard by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has driven little brown bat colonies in the Upper Peninsula down by about 90% since it arrived.² That collapse is why the legal protections exist and why the state enforces them.

The northern long-eared bat also carries federal endangered status, reclassified from threatened to endangered effective March 31, 2023.³ The Indiana bat has been federally endangered since the 1960s. The tricolored bat has been proposed for federal endangered listing but had no final rule as of early 2026.⁴ The practical takeaway: if the bat in your home is a little brown or a northern long-eared, both state and federal law apply.

What State and Federal Law Prohibit

Michigan’s protections come from Part 365 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. It prohibits harming, possessing, transporting, or selling any species on the state endangered or threatened list, on public or private land.⁵ “Take” under Part 365 covers killing, capturing, and harassing. You do not need to intend harm for a violation to occur, which means sealing a colony inside an attic during pup season counts even if you never touched a bat.

Federal law layers on top. The Endangered Species Act makes it illegal to “take” any federally listed species, and the federal definition of take includes harassment and habitat destruction along with killing or capturing.⁶ Both the DNR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can bring enforcement actions against someone who kills a federally protected bat.

Penalties for Killing a Bat

State Penalties

Violating Part 365 is a misdemeanor. The fine runs from $100 to $1,000, with jail up to 90 days, or both.⁷ Each bat harmed can count as a separate violation, so the total exposure for someone who destroys an entire colony adds up fast. Failing to get a required permit before removing bats carries the same penalty as harming them.

Federal Penalties

Federal penalties are steeper. A person who knowingly violates the Endangered Species Act faces criminal fines up to $50,000 and up to one year in prison. Civil penalties can reach $25,000 per violation without any criminal conviction, and each bat counts as its own violation.⁸

Federal enforcement typically targets larger violations like developers clearing habitat or pest control operators exterminating colonies, but homeowners are not exempt. Killing a federally listed bat in your living room is technically subject to the same statute.

Narrow Exceptions

Immediate Threat to Human Life

Michigan law allows carnivorous animals on the state endangered or threatened list to be removed, captured, or destroyed by any person in an emergency involving an immediate threat to human life, provided the action is reported to the DNR within 24 hours.⁵ Bats are insectivores, not carnivores, so this specific statutory exception has limited direct application. The broader legal principle of necessity may apply when a bat is actively biting someone who cannot escape, but this is not a general license to kill any bat that gets inside.

Capturing a Bat for Rabies Testing

The one situation in which authorities expect you to keep a bat rather than release it involves potential rabies exposure. If you find a bat in a room where someone was sleeping, where an unattended child was present, or near a person who cannot reliably report a bite, the CDC recommends capturing the bat for rabies testing.⁹ Bat bites can be too small to notice, and saliva contact through eyes, nose, mouth, or an open wound also counts as exposure.

In Michigan, roughly 4 to 6 percent of bats submitted for testing come back positive, though that figure is skewed because only bats found around people tend to get tested.¹⁰ The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services provides testing and shipping materials at no charge. Confine the bat under a container without using bare hands, and contact your local health department before doing anything else.¹¹ Rabies is nearly always fatal once symptoms appear, so testing the bat can spare someone an unnecessary post-exposure treatment series or catch an exposure that would otherwise be missed.

Not Knowing Bats Were Present

Under federal law, the harshest ESA penalties require a “knowing” violation. Someone who harms a bat accidentally, without realizing bats were there, may face civil penalties as low as $500 per violation rather than criminal sanctions.⁸ This softens outcomes; it does not create a defense. Ignorance of the law itself is not a defense at all.

The Legal Way to Get a Bat Out

Permits

If bats belong to a state-listed species and you want them out, you need a DNR permit first. The DNR issues a “Removal of Bats in Structures” permit through its Wildlife Damage and Nuisance Control program.¹² Part 365 authorizes removal of endangered or threatened species only to protect property or human health, and only under a permit from the department.⁵ For federally listed species, a separate federal permit may also be required, and the Fish and Wildlife Service tells project proponents to assess their own risk before proceeding without one.⁶

Timing: Maternity Season

Michigan prohibits bat exclusion from buildings during maternity season, generally May through August. During those months, pups cannot fly, and sealing entry points would trap them inside and kill them. The federal pup season for the northern long-eared bat is defined as June 1 through July 31 for tree-removal purposes.¹³ The practical window for legal exclusion in Michigan is roughly September through April. A colony discovered in June generally has to wait until fall unless there is an immediate health threat.

Exclusion, Not Extermination

Professional operators use exclusion rather than killing. One-way devices installed over entry points let bats leave the roost but block re-entry. Once every bat is out, the entry points get sealed. This matches Michigan’s legal emphasis on non-lethal methods.

Operators who perform commercial bat exclusion need a Wildlife Damage and Nuisance Control Permit in the “General” classification, which in turn requires a Pesticide Applicator’s License in category 7A (general pest control) or 7D (vertebrate pest control) from the Michigan Department of Agriculture. Hiring a licensed operator is the cleanest way to stay on the right side of both permit rules and species protections.

1
State of Michigan: Department of Natural Resources. Threatened and Endangered Species List
2
NCBI. Differential Population Responses to White-Nose Syndrome Between Two Michigan Bat Hibernacula
3
Federal Register. Endangered Species Status for Northern Long-Eared Bat
4
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Species Profile for Tricolored Bat
5
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 324.36505
6
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Project Design Guidelines for Federally Listed Bats in Michigan
7
Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws 324.36507 – Violation; Penalty
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 16 USC 1540 – Penalties and Enforcement
9
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. FAQs About Bats
10
State of Michigan. Humane Euthanasia of Bats for Public Health Rabies Testing
11
State of Michigan: MDHHS Emerging Disease Issues. Rabies
12
State of Michigan: Department of Natural Resources. Wildlife Damage and Nuisance Control Permits
13
Federal Register. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants – 4(d) Rule for the Northern Long-Eared Bat