The animals you meet: Michigan wildlife rules, explained
The fawn in the yard, the raccoon in the attic, the deer at the feeder — the rules for every wildlife encounter, and exactly who to call.
Most of the answers on this page fit on a porch sign: leave it alone, and here’s who to call if you can’t. See what changed this year.
The short version
Michigan law treats wild animals as belonging to everyone — which means, practically, that they belong to no one, and a few clear rules govern every encounter:
- You can’t keep wildlife. Possessing a live wild animal without a license is illegal — not the fawn, not the baby raccoon, not the injured goose. Licensed wildlife rehabilitators exist for exactly this; everyone else’s kindness is a misdemeanor that usually ends badly for the animal.
- You can protect your property — more than you think. Since a 2023 rule change, landowners may remove 13 common species doing damage — year-round, no permit.
- Feeding is a patchwork. Birds: legal, with fine print. Deer or elk in the Lower Peninsula: illegal. The full map is here.
- When in doubt: don’t touch, photograph from a distance, and call the right door — the directory at the bottom of this page.
”I found a baby animal”
It is almost certainly not abandoned — the most important paragraph on this page. Does deliberately park fawns alone, sometimes for up to eight hours, because a motionless, nearly scentless fawn is safer without mom drawing attention. The same logic covers bunnies (mom visits at dawn and dusk) and fledgling birds (ground-hopping with parents nearby is a life stage, not an emergency). Don’t touch, keep the dog in, and it’s gone by tomorrow. The genuine emergencies, and the contact-a-rehabilitator-first legal sequence, are on the found-a-baby-animal page — the one page on this site we most hope you read in May.
”There’s an animal in my house”
The landowner’s rules page carries the 13-species list and the playbooks (raccoon in the attic, bats with their June–July rule, skunk under the deck). The rule that matters most: exclusion beats removal — every removal without fixing the entry point is a vacancy listing.
The big animals
Bears want your bird seed, not you; coyotes are in all 83 counties and respond to bold hazing; wolves are U.P.-only and federally protected; cougars are real, rare, verified, and protected. The encounter page exists to lower heart rates, not raise them.
Keeping, collecting, roadkill
Wild animals aren’t pets here. Big cats, bears, and wolf-dogs are banned by statute. Turtles and frogs: a few common species, on a fishing license, within limits — with a strict protected no-list. Feathers: federally protected, even found ones. Shed antlers: legally yours. The keeping and collecting page maps the lanes — and if you hit a deer, the roadkill page covers the free salvage permit.
Who to call: the master directory
| Situation | The right door |
|---|---|
| Injured or truly orphaned animal | A licensed wildlife rehabilitator — searchable list at Michigan.gov/WildlifeRehab |
| Sick, dead, or unusual wildlife (incl. cougar or wolf sightings) | The DNR’s Eyes in the Field online report |
| Bat in a bedroom / possible rabies exposure | Your local health department |
| Wildlife conflict needing a permit (deer damage, geese, swans) | Your local DNR wildlife office |
| Animal in the attic you don’t want to handle | A licensed nuisance wildlife control professional |
| Poaching or wildlife crimes | The RAP line: 800-292-7800, call or text, 24/7 |
| Sick or dead domestic birds (backyard flocks) | MDARD: 800-292-3939 |
The official sources
The DNR’s nuisance-wildlife and Keep Wildlife Wild pages carry the official guidance; Eyes in the Field takes the reports. Hunting-side rules live in the hunting hub.
Sources
Last reviewed against the listed sources: June 11, 2026.