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LAKETOWN, Rich County — A car hit and killed a wolverine in northern Utah this week — the first time in four decades that a wolverine has been found in the state, the Division of Wildlife Resources reported.
Wednesday, an employee of the Utah Department of Transportation contacted a DWR conservation office to report the discovery of a wolverine that was likely killed by a motorist about a mile west of Laketown, near Bear Lake.
"This wolverine was not transplanted to Utah," said DWR Director Greg Sheehan. "It made its way here on its own. It's amazing to see the diversity of wildlife we have in Utah expand even more. Particularly, such a charismatic and mythical species as the wolverine."
Despite the morbid state of the young female wolverine, DWR staff are excited about the animal — the first wolverine found in Utah since the 1974 recovery of a carcass on Highway 40 outside of Vernal. While there have been many uncomfirmed spottings, the last confirmed sighting of a wolverine was at a camera bait station in the Uinta Mountains in February 2014.
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Wolverine caught on camera in Utah for 1st time
A camera set up in the Uinta Mountains caught 27 images of the wolverine in February, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources announced Wednesday. The trail camera was installed in January and retrieved during the spring.While about 250 to 300 wolverines live in the northern Rocky Mountains of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, DWR mammals coordinator Leslie McFarlane said it’s likely the animal found in northern Utah was just wandering; a wolverine’s territory can be as large as 350 square miles and they can travel impressive distances.
"We don't know how many wolverines live in Utah or if they're living here at all,” McFarlane said. "To prove that wolverines are established in Utah, we would have to have multiple sightings over a short period of time and in one particular area."
Officials are performing a necropsy on the animal to learn about it and confirm the cause of death. There were no signs that the animal had been reproducing.
