Wolverines are one of the most climate-vulnerable large carnivores in North America and Scandinavia, with their reproductive success and food storage directly dependent on persistent spring snowpack that is rapidly diminishing.
Wolverine welfare under climate change illustrates how deeply individual animal wellbeing is tied to ecological conditions shaped by global processes. The loss of reliable spring snowpack directly threatens the ability of female wolverines to den successfully, meaning reproductive failure and kit mortality become more frequent as snowpack reliability declines. Food caching behavior that is fundamental to wolverine winter survival becomes less effective as shallow or absent snow allows cached carcasses to thaw and decompose. These are not distant future scenarios but current welfare realities for wolverine populations at lower elevations and southern range margins. Climate policy is therefore animal welfare policy for wolverines and many other snowpack-dependent species.