Extremely Rare Wolverine Spotted in California Is Only the Second In 100 Years
Between the crazy amount of rain and cloudy days California has been getting this year, there is surprisingly something else that tops the list of unusualness for the state. For only the second time in 100 years, a rare wolverine was spotted. That is SO cool!
During the month of May, this wolverine was spotted a total of three times. There were two separate sightings in the Inyo National Forest and then a third sighting in Yosemite National Park. Here is the video ABC7 shared of one sighting and trust us, you don't want to miss this.
O.M.G. Now, we know this video is a considerable distance away, but either way, it's still so cool. The California Depeartment of Fish and Wildlife, with the help from wolverine experts from the U.S. Forest Service, analyzed the videos and photos. They confirmed it was, in fact, a wolverine through the animal's size, body shape, color and movement. We're absolutely blown away that this is the only second time in 100 years a wolverine has been spotted. This was the first time since 2008 and before then, it was in the 1920s.
“Wolverines can travel great distances, making it likely that the recent sightings are all of the same animal,” CDFW Senior Environmental Scientist Daniel Gammons said in a KRON4 article. “Because only two wolverines have been confirmed in California during the last 100 years, these latest detections are exciting.”
Wolverines are typically spotted in Canada and Alaska. The article states there are small populations located in the Rocky and Cascade mountain ranges. Oregon recently experience a rare wolverine sighting as well. So what is one to do if you spot one? In California, the Department of Fish and Wildlife recommends people to submit a sighting to their reporting system which will allow them to investigate. And of course, never interfere with wildlife.
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