Utah DWR captures, collars and releases wolverine; only 8th confirmed sighting since 1979

RANDOLPH, Utah — Biologists have placed a GPS collar on a wolverine for the first time after the elusive animal was captured in Rich County last week.

This marks only the eighth confirmed sighting of a wolverine in Utah since 1979.

“It’s amazing to get a chance to see a wolverine in the wild, let alone catch one,” said Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Northern Region Wildlife Manager Jim Christensen. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

The wolverine was first spotted on March 10, about 6 miles west of Randolph. Biologists said a sheepherder came across the wolverine while it was in the process of killing and wounding 18 of his sheep.

The wolverine then took off, but the U.S. Department of Agriculture was performing livestock protection efforts in the area and sent a helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft to investigate the attack.

(Utah DWR)

From the air, USDA Wildlife Services personnel spotted the wolverine running through the snow, and they contacted the DWR.

DWR crews set up two barrel traps and removed all of the dead sheep from the area. They cut two hindquarters and put each into a trap and hoped for the best.

(Utah DWR)

“There was so much activity in the area that morning, I thought the wolverine would be long gone and we wouldn’t be able to catch it,” Christensen said.

The private landowner and a sheepherder checked the traps on March 11 but found no wolverine. Later in the day, a second sheepherder returned to the area and saw that the door on one of the traps was closed. Inside? The first wolverine ever captured by biologists in Utah.

A DWR conservation officer and biologists retrieved the traps and transported them to their Ogden office, where the wolverine was sedated.

Crews “then drew blood, collected hair samples and took a series of measurements,” according to the DWR. “Throughout the examination, they monitored the animal’s heart rate, breathing, and temperature, applying alcohol and ice to its armpits and stomach to keep it cool. Before reversing the effects of the drug, they also attached a GPS collar to its neck.”

Biologists said the wolverine is a male between 3 and 4 years old. It weighed 28 pounds and was 41 inches from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail.

“The animal had good, sharp teeth,” Christensen said. “It was in really good condition.”

Crews then placed the wolverine back into the trap and reversed the effects of the drug.

“It took only a couple of minutes for it to start waking up,” Christensen said. “Pretty soon, it was wide awake and as lively as ever.”

Biologists transported the animal to the Uintah Mountains, where it was released on public land Sunday evening.

The DWR said the chance to track this wolverine is priceless, and the GPS data will provide invaluable information to biologists.

They hope to see when and where the animal travels, the size of its home range and the type of habitats it uses at different times of the year. All of the information will be used to manage wolverines in Utah — an area that’s at the very southern edge of the wolverine’s range in the United States.

“Having a collar on this wolverine will teach us things about wolverines in Utah that would be impossible to learn any other way,” Christensen said. “Four different wolverine sightings were confirmed in Utah in 2021. Were we seeing the same animal or different animals? Having a collar on this animal will help us solve that riddle.”