(Adds Fish and Wildlife Service comments)
By Laura Zuckerman
SALMON, Idaho, Feb 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. government
proposed adding wolverines, feisty but rare members of the
weasel family, to the federal threatened and endangered species
list on Friday because global warming is reducing the mountain
snows the animals need for survival.
Fewer than 300 wolverines, solitary creatures said to
resemble small bears with bushy tails, are believed to exist in
the lower 48 United States, where they mostly inhabit the high
country of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington state.
The reclusive animals, which eat everything from birds to
berries, build their dens, reproduce and store food in areas
with snow deeper than five feet in high-elevation environments
unoccupied by humans and undisturbed by snowmobilers and skiers.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a statement
announcing the proposal that it would accept public comment
until May 6 on a plan to classify wolverines in the continental
United States as threatened and allow new populations to be
established in the Southern Rockies, including Colorado, New
Mexico and Wyoming.
The proposed listing as threatened under the U.S. Endangered
Species Act would generally outlaw intentional killing of the
animals, whose fur is prized by trappers.
Rising temperatures and declining snowpack in the mountains
are likely to reduce suitable wolverine habitat in the lower 48
states by 63 percent by the end of this century, according to
predictions by government scientists.
Viable populations of wolverines once roamed expansive
tracts of the northern Cascades, the Rocky Mountains and the
Sierra Nevada before widespread trapping and poisoning severely
diminished their numbers and range.
Wolverines may cover more than a dozen miles (20 km) a day
across rugged terrain in search of food, believed to be the
primary factor driving the animals’ movements and explaining the
vastness of their home ranges, according to the Fish and
Wildlife Service.
CONSERVATIONISTS WANT STRONGER MEASURES
Conservationists, who waged legal battles for years to
provide safeguards for wolverines, applauded the moves to
protect wolverines but said stronger measures were needed.
They expressed concern that the Fish and Wildlife Service
was putting off plans to set aside extreme alpine areas favored
by wolverines as critical habitat, and complained the service
won’t regulate greenhouse gas emissions for animals imperiled by
global warming.
“It doesn’t make any sense for the Obama administration to
be acknowledging wolverines are endangered by climate change and
yet, at the same time, not seek to address greenhouse gases,”
said Noah Greenwald, endangered species program director with
the Center for Biological Diversity.
Federal wildlife officials said addressing global climate
impacts is beyond the scope of the Endangered Species Act, which
was not designed to control air emissions by everything from
coal-fired power plants to cars.
Wildlife officials in Montana, the only one of the lower 48
states that permits licensed harvesting of the elusive
carnivore, said trapping for wolverines would remain closed for
the foreseeable future.
“No matter what the ultimate decision turns out to be,
Montana will make a strong case to maintain authority to manage
its wildlife, including the ability to trap other species, like
wolves, that may sometimes share habitat with the wolverine,”
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director Jeff Hagener said in a
statement.
Conservation groups last year sued the state to stop the
practice, and in November a judge issued an injunction on
trapping of wolverines a day before the season was to open.
Wolverines, which weigh up to 40 pounds (18 kg) and measure
up to 34 inches (86 cm) long, are known for their voracious
appetites, self-sufficiency and toughness.
“It’s an animal that has a look of, ‘Get out of my way, I’m
coming through,'” said Brent Esmoil, acting field supervisor of
the federal Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena, Montana.
Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Shawn Sartorius said
wolverines are almost always grouchy on the rare occasions
researchers encounter them.
“I’ve never seen one smile,” he said.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston, David Gregorio and Eric Walsh)
