Posted on 11/29/2023 8:50:15 PM PST by Olog-hai
The North American wolverine will receive long-delayed threatened species protections under a Biden administration proposal released Wednesday in response to scientists’ warnings that climate change will likely melt away the rare species’ snowy mountain refuges and push them toward extinction.
Across most of the U.S., wolverines were wiped out by the early 1900s from unregulated trapping and poisoning campaigns. About 300 surviving animals in the contiguous U.S. live in fragmented, isolated groups at high elevations in the northern Rocky Mountains.
Wolverines join a growing number of animals, plants and insects — from polar bears in Alaska to crocodiles in southern Florida — that officials say are at growing risk as increasing temperatures bake the planet, altering snowfall patterns and raising sea levels.
In the coming decades, warming temperatures are expected to shrink the mountain snowpack wolverines rely on to dig dens where they birth and raise their young.
The decision Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service follows more than two decades of disputes over the risks of climate change, and threats to the long-term survival of the elusive species. Officials wrote in the proposal that protections under the Endangered Species Act were needed “due primarily to the ongoing and increasing impacts of climate change and associated habitat degradation and fragmentation.” […]
Protections were rejected under former President Donald Trump. A federal judge in 2022 ordered the administration of President Joe Biden to make a final decision this week on whether to seek protections. …
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
I wish the US would move to protect Americans.
Snowy Owl II.
Biden is following Jimmy Carter’s roadmap.
When do we get to 17% mortgage rates?
“as increasing temperatures bake the planet, altering snowfall patterns and raising sea levels....”
...the officials said, without providing any evidence.
EC
I have always associated wolverines with Michigan, the Wolverine State.
Plenty left in Canada. From the Animalia website: “Canada’s’ wolverine population is estimated at 15,000-19,000 individuals. The ICUN classifies the wolverine as “Least Concern”, with a decreasing population trend.”
I don’t know how many wolverines were in the area that’s now the U.S. some 200 or 300 years ago, but I’d bet it wasn’t more than a few thousand tops. They’ll probably recover nicely during the coming ice age.
Like polar bears wolverines population mainly suffered historically due to hunting and predator control. Plenty of them left to go around, but that doesn’t suit the alarmists narrative, so, here we go again.
Exactly. One site even pointed out that populations were already recovering where things like wolf-baiting were stopped years ago.
Almost no wolverines there. Also was never adopted as the official state animal.
Both peaks!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.