Wolverines are wide-ranging, solitary mustelids whose dependence on deep snow and vast territories makes them acutely vulnerable to climate change.
Wild wolverines face growing welfare threats from climate change and trapping. As snow specialists, wolverines are among the most climate-sensitive large mammals in North America — loss of spring snowpack forces females to abandon dens midway through raising kits, causing significant suffering and high kit mortality. Trapping for fur causes acute suffering through trap injuries and prolonged entrapment before death. Snare traps can cause slow, painful deaths over many hours. Road development and off-road vehicle use fragment wolverine territories, forcing animals through suboptimal habitat. Their low reproductive rate means populations recover very slowly from anthropogenic mortality. Despite these threats, wolverines lack federal endangered species protection in Canada.