Feds Won't Protect Wolverines from Extinction

There are so many threatened and endangered species out West right now that federal officials can't provide protection fast enough -- and those delays could wipe some animals off the map.

Wolverines are one of the most at-risk. Only a few hundred survive in the United States, and that's an increase from a century ago. Depredation efforts brought them to the brink of extinction.

Now, climate change has emerged as a new threat to the species, which can only reproduce when it's snowy. Warmer weather is making it harder for the species to propagate as their habitat continues to shrink. Over the next century, they're expected to lose two-thirds of their land. That means that it'll get increasingly difficult for different groups of wolverines to reach each other, and that will further limit their ability to generate healthy offspring.

But like many other animals, wolverines are languishing on a list of animals that need federal protection, but can't get it. Only a limited amount of funding is available to protect them, and other animals' situations are even more dire.

It's been one series of cliffhangers after another for wolverines. Environmentalists first sought protection for them 25 years ago, but after a 2000 study the government declined to intervene. After being sued, they reconsidered, but are unable to act due to funding limitations. The same constraints affect sage grouse and plains bison.

One possible bright spot: Canada has extended limited protections for wolverines, so even if the United States is unable to act, our neighbor to the north may provide some some level of safety for them.