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Cases
Wolverines: Legal Protection Needed
In Brief: The wolverine is generally intolerant of human disturbance in its habitat. Its presence in a area signifies untrammeled, uncompromised wilderness. This lawsuit asked a federal court to overturn the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's refusal to consider new legal protections for the wolverine. In October 2006, a federal judged ruled that the FWS wrongly rejected scientific information regarding the wolverine that "shows a dramatic loss in range, the tangible decrease in population with the commensurate threat of genetic isolation of subpopulations, and the threat posed by human encroachment on wolverines."
Wolverines are bear-cub-sized forest predators that live in some of the last remaining wilderness areas in the lower-48 states. Wolverines do not generally tolerate human intrusion into their habitat, and their presence can be considered a test of how "wild" a wilderness truly is. Sadly, the wolverine population is diminishing as a result of trapping, snowmobiling, logging, mining, and roadbuilding.
Several conservation groups petitioned that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service add the wolverine to the Endangered Species Act’s list of endangered and threatened species. In October of 2003, the Fish and Wildlife Service rejected this petition and the request for a full scientific review of the wolverine's status, citing a lack of conclusive data.
In June 2005, Earthjustice filed suit, asking a federal court to overturn the Fish and Wildlife Service's refusal to consider new legal protections for the wolverine. On September 29, 2006, the court overturned the decision of the FWS, and ordered the FWS to conduct a full status review of the wolverine and issue a final determination whether the species should be listed as threatened or endangered.
Updated: June 8, 2005
Case #09593
