Wolverines are wide-ranging carnivores whose welfare is increasingly threatened by habitat fragmentation, climate change reducing snowpack, and human encroachment on wilderness areas.
Wolverines experience chronic stress when forced into smaller habitat patches due to development and climate change. Insufficient territory leads to food insecurity, reduced reproduction, and increased conflict with other wolverines. The loss of snow for denning directly threatens kit survival since mothers rely on stable snow dens for months. Trapped wolverines suffer fear, pain, and often fatal injuries in leg-hold traps.