Rare Lonely Wolverine Reappeared After 100 Years of Believed Extinction in California
A rare and native wolverine has been spotted in Northern California for just the second time since they were believed to have gone extinct more than 100 years ago.
A photo of the animal was taken by Ryan Campbell in May when he was enjoying a ski day at Mammoth Mountain in Crowley, California.
While riding the gondola up to the top of the mountain, a stranger in his car pointed out the animal in the snow below, ‘Is that a wolverine,’ the person asked.
The sighting marks just the second time since the animals have been seen since vanishing from California in 1922 after hunters wiped out the population.
Wolverines are believed to have been the animals that ransacked the Donner Party’s camp, leaving them to resort to cannibalism after getting stuck in the snow.
In the most recent incident, the group who spotted the animal said they were unsure what they were looking at initially.
Campbell told SFGate the animal looked like ‘a small bear, except for the white marking, long tail and the head.’
Just to be safe, he pulled out his phone and grabbed the long-range photo.
The animal quickly was scared away by an incoming skier, however, and took off.
‘We saw it running toward a nearby clump of trees. Then, we noticed why it started running,’ Campbell said.
‘A skier was coming down the slope and took the jump, likely never having seen how close they were.’
The picture is just the second of its kind since the wolverine – a member of the mammal family that includes otters badgers – disappeared from California.
In 2008, a wolverine named ‘Buddy’ trekked from Idaho, some 600 miles away from the most recent sighting, to California. The animal was caught on camera multiple times over the years.
‘He’s kind of a transient,’ Chris Stermer, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife official told SFGATE in 2008.
‘He’s a lone wolverine looking for a female he’s likely never to find,’ Stermer said. The most recent wolverine sighting occurred at Mammoth Mountain in Crowley, California.
It is believed that there are just 400 wolverines throughout the US, located across Idaho, Colorado, and Montana. The animals live for five to 13 years, therefore, officials say they don’t believe the California sighting is Buddy.
SFGate emailed a photo of the animal from Mammoth Mountain to Stermer who seemingly confirmed its species. ‘I am 99.9% certain that is a wolverine in the photo, which is pretty exciting!’ he wrote in an email exchange with the outlet.
‘In fact, the Department has been sent two videos since last week showing what appears to be a wolverine at a distance, and one was taken by someone on a ski lift,’ he continued.
Wolverines were best known for their scavenging ways and reportedly were responsible for eating up the Donner Party’s food supply.
The incident went on to become one of the most famous instances along the California Trail after the group resorted to cannibalism to survive.
