The lone wolverine that wandered Colorado for at least three years has been identified as the animal killed in North Dakota last month.
North Dakota officials say the wolverine, identified as M56, was harassing livestock when a rancher shot him. A North Dakota state law allows residents to kill furbearers only in protection of livestock, and officials determined the killing of M56 was justified.
“It’s been a unique story. It has caught the attention of many,” said Jeb Williams, division chief for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.
Wolverine M56 will end his days displayed in a full body mount at a furbearer exhibit in North Dakota’s Game and Fish headquarters — the first wolverine in the exhibit.
But M56 has been attracting attention since he was found in 2008 in Wyoming, where officials were able to implant a tracking device.
In 2009, the device allowed officials to track M56 to Colorado where he was known to live until at least 2012, when the device stopped transmitting.
A necropsy done after he was killed last month determined M56 was a healthy 8- to 9-year-old wolverine.
“There wasn’t much in its stomach at the time, but it appeared to be in good condition and healthy as far as we could tell,” Williams said.
When the animal lived in Colorado, for wolverines and had discussions about a possible recovery plan that would have designated Colorado as one of the places critical to their habitat.
Wolverines are on Colorado’s endangered species list, but their status when officials said they didn’t know enough about the critter to know if their survivability was being impacted by global warming.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or @yeseniarobles
