Is It Illegal to Kill Bats in Wisconsin? Protected Species and Penalties

Yes, it is illegal to kill bats in Wisconsin. Every bat species that lives in Wisconsin’s caves and buildings is protected as state-threatened, and the northern long-eared bat carries full federal endangered status on top of that. Depending on the species and whether the killing was intentional, penalties range from a few hundred dollars to $50,000 and up to a year in jail. If bats are living in your home, the law requires you to remove them alive.

Which Bats Are Protected

All four cave-dwelling bat species found in Wisconsin are listed as state-threatened under Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 27.07: the little brown bat, big brown bat, northern long-eared bat, and eastern pipistrelle (also called the tricolored bat).¹ Under state law, it is illegal to take, transport, possess, or sell any of them without a specific departmental permit or authorization.² White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, has driven these protections by wiping out roughly 90% or more of several Wisconsin populations.

The northern long-eared bat has a second, stronger layer of protection. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified it from threatened to endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act, effective March 31, 2023.³ That triggers the ESA’s Section 9 prohibitions on any “take,” which includes harming, harassing, or killing an animal of the species.⁴

Most people cannot reliably tell bat species apart in a dark attic. The safe assumption is that any bat in a Wisconsin home could be a federally protected one.

State Penalties

Wisconsin splits penalties into two tiers based on intent. A general violation, such as accidentally killing a bat during a home repair, carries a forfeiture of $500 to $2,000. The court must also revoke all of the person’s hunting approvals and bar new ones for one year.²

Intentional violations are treated much more seriously. Deliberately killing a state-threatened bat brings a fine between $2,000 and $5,000, up to nine months in jail, or both. Hunting approvals are revoked for three years.² That intent line is where people who poison or exterminate a colony tend to land.

Federal Penalties

If the bat killed is a northern long-eared bat, federal penalties stack on top of the state ones. Under 16 U.S.C. § 1540, a knowing violation can bring a civil penalty of up to $25,000 per violation. Criminal prosecution for a knowing violation carries fines up to $50,000, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.⁵

The One Exception: Possible Rabies Exposure

Wisconsin recognizes a narrow public health exception for bats that may have exposed a person or pet to rabies. Bat bites can be too small to notice, so health authorities treat any direct contact seriously.

If a bat has bitten someone, touched someone’s bare skin, or been found in a room with a sleeping person or an unattended child, the CDC recommends capturing the bat alive if possible and contacting your local health department before releasing it.⁶ The Wisconsin DNR directs people in this situation to work with their county health department on next steps, including rabies testing.⁷ A bat submitted for rabies testing must be refrigerated, not frozen, and a physician or veterinarian should be consulted about the exposure.

This is a capture-for-testing rule, not a blanket permission to kill bats. A bat that is simply flying around a room without any contact needs to be let outside, not killed.

What To Do Instead

If a bat is loose in your bedroom at 2 a.m., close the bat into that room and open a window or exterior door so it can leave on its own. If it doesn’t leave, wait for it to land, put on thick gloves, cover it with a cardboard or plastic box, slide a piece of cardboard underneath, and carry it outside. Place the container on its side near a shrub or other sheltered spot and let the bat leave at its own pace. Never throw a bat into the air.⁷

Repeated appearances mean a colony has settled somewhere in your walls or attic. The lawful way to clear them out is exclusion: sealing every entry point except one or two, installing one-way devices that let bats crawl out at dusk but block them from returning, and then sealing those final openings once the building is empty. The DNR’s Broad Incidental Take Permit/Authorization automatically covers exclusion work done between August 1 and May 31.⁷

Exclusion is prohibited from June 1 through July 31. Pups born in early June cannot yet fly, and sealing out the mothers during that window separates them from their young and traps the pups inside.⁸ A narrow health exemption exists for cases where bats are routinely entering living space and creating a genuine health risk during the blackout, but you must submit the DNR’s Health Exemption Form within five days of starting the work. Simply having bats in the attic does not qualify.⁷

Wisconsin does not require you to hire a professional. You can do the work yourself as long as you stay out of the blackout window, avoid harming any bat, and use one-way devices that let the animals leave safely.⁷ Bats can squeeze through gaps smaller than a dime, so a missed entry point means they come back.

1
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Bats – Broad Incidental Take Permit/Authorization
2
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 29.604 – Endangered and Threatened Species Protected
3
Federal Register. Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants – Endangered Species Status for Northern Long-Eared Bat
4
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Species Profile for Northern Long-Eared Bat
5
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Endangered Species Act – Section 11 Penalties and Enforcement
6
CDC. Preventing Rabies from Bats
7
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Bat Frequently Asked Questions
8
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Form 2300-330 – Broad Incidental Take Permit/Authorization for Cave Bats – Health Exemption Request