Wolverines are wide-ranging mountain carnivores threatened by climate change and trapping, with complex welfare needs tied to their extreme habitat requirements.
Wolverines caught in traps suffer from the injuries and prolonged stress of entrapment, with particularly severe welfare concerns given the extreme cold temperatures of their habitat. Climate change reducing snowpack threatens wolverine denning success, resulting in reproductive failure and pup mortality. Road mortality causes traumatic death in a species already at very low densities. The loss of persistent snow through climate change represents a fundamental welfare threat to an entire species - not just individual animals. Conservation of mountain snowpack through climate action is the most critical welfare intervention for wolverines.