Defenders' Experts
Wolverine
Called “skunk bear” by the Blackfeet Indians, the wolverine is the largest terrestrial member of the weasel family.
The numbers of wolverines are perilously low in the lower-48 states, and yet the species still does not have any federal protection. Since 2000, Defenders has been actively involved in trying to make sure that this remarkable animal is protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).
Endangered Species Act protections “warranted” for wolverines: threats found to be of “high magnitude” yet species still awaits ESA listing.
December 13, 2010 - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined today that wolverines warrant protection under the federal Endangered Species Act but that those protections will be withheld indefinitely due to the backlog of other species awaiting an official listing.
Summary of USFWS wolverine status review:
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that wolverines warrant Endangered Species Act protections, but the listing is delayed by other priorities.
- Wolverines were found to be threatened in the western United States due to their low numbers and the decline of areas with persistent spring snowpack.
- The Fish and Wildlife Service assigned the wolverine a listing priority number of 6—on a scale of 1 to 12 where 1 is the highest priority—finding it faces “threats of high magnitude but that are not imminent.”
Joint Press Release
USFWS ”Warranted but Precluded” Finding on Our Petition to List the Wolverine (scroll to bottom of web page)
Wolverine Settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
In the Field
Recent advancements in the field of Landscape Genetics have revealed how wolverines are connected across the vast northern Rocky Mountains region. Defenders is hard at work protecting key core and connecting areas for these rare and imperiled scavengers.
Management and Policy
Heavy trapping and poisoning up until the early 1900s and habitat degradation and fragmentation that continues today are the major factors contributing to the wolverine’s imperiled status in the western U.S. Since 2000, Defenders and other conservation groups have been pushing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the wolverine under the Endangered Species Act. So far the agency has refused to protect wolverines, forcing Defenders and colleagues to bring litigation to gain wolverines the federal protections they need.
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