Rare wolverine documented in Idaho’s central mountains

An outdoor recreationist recently captured video of a rare wolverine in Idaho’s central mountains, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials said.

The sighting occurred recently at a high altitude lake in the Pioneer Mountains, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Southwest Regional Wildlife Biologist Jamie Utz said.

Fish and Game officials posted a video of the wolverine on social media, saying that sighting was significant because wolverines are such rare and elusive carnivores. Due to excessive hunting, trapping and poisoning at the turn of the 20th century, there are only an estimated 318 wolverines remaining in the continental United States, Fish and Game officials said.

Since 2021, Fish and Game officials said they have logged 35 “reliable” wolverine sightings in Idaho in their database of self-reported observations from people on the ground. Utz said the observations in the database are deemed reliable because the observations either included details that backed up the sighting as a wolverine and not a similar looking carnivore like a badger, or the sightings included photos or video.

“Wolverine sightings are mostly concentrated in Idaho mountains that are at or above treeline,” Utz said in an email Friday.

In the social media post about the wolverine sighting, Fish and Game officials called wolverines “Idaho’s most impressive carnivore,” writing they are “the complete carnivore package; elusive, fearsome, tough and ready to gorge on whatever they can scavenge or hunt.”

“Wolverines can move almost implausible distances and with astonishing speed, too,” Utz told the Idaho Capital Sun. “Radiocollared wolverine studies have demonstrated how individuals will go up and over mountains in no time. And not switchbacking or carefully picking the easiest route like any other animal might, but simply just up and over.”

In 2023, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed wolverines as a “threatened” species under the Endangered Species Act. However, more than 15 different conservation groups sued the federal government earlier this year, alleging the feds had stalled plans to save wolverines, the Daily Montanan reported.