Feds Bail on Protecting Wolverines

[n2doc]

by Chris Clarke

Overruling the strong recommendations of its own scientists, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is withdrawing a proposal to list the North American wolverine, Gulo gulo, as Threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

USFWS scientists had urged the wolverine be listed due to the likely effect of climate change on the rare predatory weasel's reproductive habits. The animals depend on deep, persistent snow for their breeding, and an increasingly warm planet means that winter breeding habitat will likely become unsuitable for the wolverine.

Nonetheless, USFWS Director Dan Ashe announced Tuesday that the agency will back a call by one of the agency's regional directors to withdraw the listing proposal, citing "uncertainty" over the actual effect of disappearing snowfields on the wolverine's survival.

more

http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/rewild/agencies/feds-bail-on-protecting-wolverines.html

[gejohnston]

1. part of the problem could be that

nobody seems to know what the actual population is. They are apex predators with large ranges. While most range maps place their habitat as being mostly northern Canada and Eurasia, they have been sighted by game camera as far south as southern Wyoming within the past few years.