JEFF GEARINO Southwest Wyoming bureau | Posted: Wednesday, June 6, 2007 12:00 am
GREEN RIVER - Scientists have long known the wolverine - once described as a weasel with a scrap of demoniac fury - is a beast of great ferocity, cunning and secrecy. They also know the animal lives in just a fraction of its historical range.
What they don't know is whether wolverines, which inhabit parts of Wyoming, should be considered an endangered species.
In response to a court ruling last fall, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is initiating a status review of the fierce, reclusive predator to determine whether the species warrants special protection, the agency announced Tuesday.
Conservationists contend wolverine populations are in steep, drastic decline and need help. Problems for the species include loss of habitat because of roads and other human development, trapping in Montana and denning disturbances caused by snowmobiles.
The Fish and Wildlife Service intends to complete the wolverine status review by a court-ordered date of Feb. 28, 2008, said agency spokeswoman Lori Nordstrom.
"The Service will evaluate all existing and new information to determine whether impacts to the wolverine warrant a listing proposal," Mitch King, director of the Service's Mountain-Prairie Region, said in a news release.
Nordstrom said the agency is seeking information from the public, government agencies and others regarding the status and potential impacts to the wolverine.
She said in particular, the Fish and Wildlife Service plans to consider peer-reviewed scientific wolverine papers that are anticipated to be published in the late summer in the Journal of Wildlife Management.
The wolverine is the largest terrestrial mammal in the weasel family. It has thick brown fur, with a lighter brown or blonde "stripe" along its sides.
The large-footed animal grows to about 25 pounds and more than three feet in length, about the size of a bear cub. Wolverine range includes parts of Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.
Active scavengers
Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologists said small populations of the wolverine can be found in the mountains of extreme western and northwestern Wyoming. The animal ranges from the high Teton Mountains near Jackson to the low sagebrush mule deer winter range near Kemmerer and Cokeville.
Wolverines have also been spotted in the northern Wind River Range, the Wyoming Range, the Absaroka Mountains and the Beartooth Mountains.
Wolverines are mostly nocturnal, but may be active at any time. They do not hibernate, can travel long distances of several hundred miles without stopping, and the majority of their diet is obtained from scavenging.
Conservationists asked the Fish and Wildlife Service in July 2000 to add the forest predator to the endangered species list, a move that, among other restrictions, would have prohibited trapping of the animal.
The agency published a petition finding in October 2003 stating that the petition failed to present "substantial scientific and commercial information" indicating that listing the animal may be warranted.
In 2005, several conservation groups, including the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Defenders of Wildlife, sued the Fish and Wildlife Service in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont., alleging the agency used the wrong standards to assess the wolverine listing petition. In October 2006, a federal judge ruled in favor of the groups.
The decision said the agency erred in rejecting scientific information about the wolverine, information that showed loss of range, population decline and risk from human encroachment.
While little research has been done on wolverines in Wyoming, there have been several wolverine sightings in Wyoming in recent years.
In 2004, a midnight call to Game and Fish wardens led to the discovery of a dead wolverine on State Highway 30 near Kemmerer. The discovery caused quite a stir in the small Lincoln County town and surrounding communities. The animal was eventually mounted by a Green River taxidermist and is now used for educational purposes at the Green River regional office.
In 1998, a wolverine reportedly killed several sheep east of Buffalo and was sighted by an area rancher. And in 1996, a wolverine was caught in a trapper's snare set at a site about 20 miles north of Cheyenne.
Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.