Wolverines return to Mount Rainier National Park

08/21/2020 USA


The first reproductive female wolves and their two offspring – named kits – were discovered by scientists from the Cascades Carnivore Project in collaboration with the National Park Service, officials said.
Sometimes it looks like a little bear with a bushy tail, the wolverine is the largest land dweller of the white family. The animal is heavily built with short, round ears, small eyes, and large feet that are handy for traveling through snow, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

It is estimated that only 300-1000 wolverines inhabit the lower 48 U.S. states, making the carnivore an exceptionally rare sight, park officials said.

“It’s really, really exciting,” said Superintendent Mount Rainier National Park Chip Jenkins. “It tells us something about the state of the park – that when we have such large carnivores present on the landscape that we do a good job of managing our desert.”

The elusive wildlife was detected at the park via camera stations, installed by scientists in 2018, specifically designed to photograph and identify individual wolverines based on their uniquely patterned breast marks. The mama wolverine, Joni named by the Cascades Carnivore Project, was identified as a nurse female.

The national park shared news of the wolves’ return on Twitter with a clip of the three long-awaited animals pictured at the end of a snowfield and then walking through a meadow in a forest.

Coincidentally, the mysterious creature was recently spotted twice in the state of Washington outside its usual habitat, on the beach of Long Beach Peninsula and by walking down a road in Naselle.

Despite their hostile reputation, wolverines pose no risk to people lucky enough to spot someone in the wild. The animal is likely to flee before the sight of visitors to the park, officials said.

Since backcountry recreation can disrupt wildlife, the park, along with Washington’s National Park Fund, has developed a downloadable carnivore guide to help backcountry enthusiasts develop an awareness of wildlife and its tracks.

Park officials encourage visitors to help monitor returning creatures by reporting any sightings or photos of tracks in the Mount Rainier online database for wildlife sightings or directly to Cascades Wolverine Project.

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