Wolverines remain legally trapped for fur in several US states and Canadian provinces, with trapping methods causing prolonged suffering in an already vulnerable species increasingly stressed by climate change.
Leghold trapping causes acute injury and psychological suffering. Trapped wolverines may injure themselves attempting to escape, experience frostbite in winter conditions, or endure prolonged immobilization without food or water. Given their already-threatened status in the contiguous US, ongoing trapping represents a compounding pressure on a vulnerable population. The conservation and welfare arguments for reducing or eliminating wolverine trapping in lower-48 states are now especially strong given the threatened listing.