The wolverine was thought to be extinct in California. Then a remote sensing camera photographed one and its scat was collected.
DNA evidence from the scat analysis says it came from the Rocky Mountains. Did it walk to California?
California wolverine came from the Rocky Mountains. By Dylan Darling. Redding.com
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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
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Very interesting news. If one wolverine from Idaho/Wyoming/Montana made it there, others could have as well.
Let’s hope Mr. Wolverine took a mate or two along. Perhaps they can start a population in a state friendlier to them than Montana where, incredibly, they are still trapped in spite of their low numbers and a lack of data on their genetics and population. But hey, trappers gotta have their trophy animal, right? MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks apparently agrees.
It blows my mind that wolverine trapping is allowed in Montana.
I bet many a pine marten and fisher are trapped in that state. Shameful.
Shameful indeed–and there is no quota on pine martens! (I saw my first one ever last autumn. It’s not like you run into them around every trail bend.) Fishers are apparently much more rare–a quota of seven for all of MT (they are trapped in just two districts). With a quota that low, why trap them at all? And how many really die in traps? (Same goes for wolverine–I’m guessing more than the quota, since indiscriminate traps don’t keep track of quotas.) And the state of MT has listed the wolverine as a “species of concern,” no less. There’s something seriously wrong here.