It’s official, wolverines will be reintroduced in Colorado
May 21, 2024, 4:16 PM | Updated: 6:35 pm
Just the name wolverine has a somewhat mean or aggressive connotation, but in reality you really don’t have much to worry about as it’s been announced they’ll be coming back to Colorado.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Monday (May 20) that allows Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce the North American wolverine to Colorado.
Wolverines are a native species to Colorado, but the last wolverine confirmed in Colorado was in 2009: a male that traveled from the Tetons in Wyoming to central Colorado, then to North Dakota, where it was shot.
Adult wolverines typically weigh 15-40 lbs and are primarily scavengers and opportunistic feeders that eat a variety of foods available in their harsh alpine/subalpine environment, with a large proportion of their diet being scavenged carrion. They will also prey on small rodents, rabbits, porcupines, ground squirrels, marmots, birds and eggs, fish, and plants. Wolverines will occasionally eat deer.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife will introduce 30 female and 15 male wolverines over a three-year period in hopes of boosting the species’ population, as only about 300 wolverines remain in the contiguous United States.
