Family-Outdoors

A rancher south of Alexander in McKenzie County shot and killed a wolverine in late April that was harassing livestock. The incident was investigated and determined to be within North Dakota law, which allows a landowner, tenant or that persons agent to catch, or kill any wild furbearing animal (except bears) in protection of poultry, domestic animals or crops. The 8- to 9-year old male appeared to be healthy, and was found with a radio tracking device in its abdomen. Records indicated the device was inserted in 2008, when the wolverine was captured south of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Internal radio tracking devices are often used in mammals that frequently crawl in and out of burrows, or those that live in water. This wolverine’s last known location was Colorado in 2012. After which, the battery in its radio tracking device was likely depleted. The last confirmed record of a wolverine in North Dakota was from the fur trading era during the mid-1800s. The closest p...

Proposed Rule would not affect recreation, timber harvest or other activities if species is listed as threatened DENVER--The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announced today, in response to a court-ordered deadline, that it is seeking information from the scientific community and the public on a proposal to protect the North American wolverine as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Service is also seeking comment on two proposed special rules designed to facilitate management and recovery of the species should it receive protection. An estimated 250 to 300 wolverines now occur in the lower 48 states, where the species has rebounded after broad-scale predator trapping and poisoning programs led to its near extinction in the early 1900s. This was in part due to the states protecting the species from unregulated trapping. Extensive climate modeling indicates that the wolverine’s snowpack habitat will be greatly reduced and fragmented in the coming ...