Wildlife
Lobster and Fishes Piping Plovers Raptors Forest Birds
State-Listed Species
Resident Turtles
Five of the eight turtle species that live in Connecticut year-round are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern.
Turtles are excellent indicators of ecological health. Resident turtles include the eight species of turtle that live in Connecticut (but not the four marine species that visit Long Island Sound in the summer, all of which are threatened or endangered). In 2015, five of the eight resident turtle species were listed as endangered or of special concern: bog turtle (endangered), eastern box turtle, wood turtle, northern diamondback terrapin, and spotted turtle (species of special concern).67 Turtle species in Connecticut have declined, in part, because of poaching, and the degradation, loss and segmentation of their habitat. The ability for turtles to sustain a stable population will be difficult because turtles take a long time to reach sexual maturity and have low survivorship when newly hatched.
Goal: Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes (CGS), Section 26-303, it is a policy of the state to conserve, protect, restore and enhance any endangered or threatened species and essential habitat
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Bats*
Bat populations at a sentinel site in Connecticut increased in 2025 from the previous survey completed in 2023. Bats in the state have experienced a catastrophic decline that led to the classification in 2015 of three more bat species as endangered in Connecticut and has raised concerns about the future of bats in the state. The sharp decline in bat population between 2007 and 2010 is primarily due to an epidemic fungal disease called white-nose syndrome (WNS). Other factors that might impact bat populations include climate change and habitat loss. In 2022, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) reclassified the northern long-eared bat (NLEB) as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, effective January 30, 2023.68 On September 13, 2022, the USFWS announced a proposal to list the tricolored bat as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.69
Goal: The goal for bats is for recovery of all nine species to a stable, sustainable population.
NEW! The 2025 – 2035 Wildlife Action Plan, completed and approved in 2025, identifies Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) with eight (8) bat species identified as “most important”, key habitats, priority issues, and conservation actions for wildlife in Connecticut.
Technical Note: *The horizontal axis for bats displays every other year between 1999 and 2007. There were no hibernacula entries in 2021, 2022, and 2024. The chart depicts data for the winter population of cave-dwelling bat species at a sentinel hibernation site monitored by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
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67 DEEP, Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Reptiles, Effective August 5, 2015; portal.ct.gov/DEEP/Endangered-Species/Endangered-Species-Listings/Endangered-Threatened--Special-Concern-Reptiles.
68 USFWS, Final Rule – Northern Long-Eared Bat; www.fws.gov/species/northern-long-eared-bat-myotis-septentrionalis and www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/11/30/2022-25998/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-endangered-species-status-for-northern-long-eared-bat
69 USFWS, Tricolored Bat; www.fws.gov/species/tricolored-bat-perimyotis-subflavus.