US moves to protect wolverines as climate change melts their mountain refuges, threatens extinction
This undated file photo shows a wolverine in Montana's Glacier National Park. Scientists say climate change could harm populations of the elusive animals that live in alpine areas with deep snow. (Jeff Copeland/Glacier National Park/The Missoulian via AP, File)
BILLINGS (AP) — The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed threatened species protections under a Biden administration proposal released Wednesday in response to scientists warning that climate change will likely melt away the rare species' snowy mountain refuges and push them toward extinction.
Across most of the U.S., wolverines were wiped out by the early 1900s from unregulated trapping and poisoning campaigns. About 300 surviving animals in the contiguous U.S. live in fragmented, isolated groups at high elevations in the northern Rocky Mountains.
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