Wolverines are among the species most vulnerable to climate change, with their snow-dependent ecology threatening reproductive success and food security across their range as snowpack declines.
Climate-driven snowpack loss creates welfare harms that are gradual but fundamental. Wolverines whose denning sites lack snow by May experience complete reproductive failure - kits cannot survive without snow insulation. Food caching under snow becomes impossible in low-snow years, affecting winter nutritional status. The thermal discomfort of wolverines - among the most cold-adapted carnivores - in warming environments is documented through behavioral avoidance of warm temperatures. Climate change represents a chronic, unavoidable welfare stressor for wolverines that only systemic emission reductions can address.