Ontario Boreal Wolverine Project

2003-2004 Season Capture Reports

Capture #2

News Release:

A second wolverine (F02) has been live-trapped, radio tagged and released in the bush near Red Lake.

Dr. Audrey Magoun, Living Legacy Trust Boreal Wolverine Project Leader, and volunteers, Claire Quewezence, the Assistant Parks Superintendent for Woodland Caribou Park and, and her husband, Ray, a local trapper, were checking traps north of Red Lake on December 25, 2003. The trap door was closed on one of the traps, which indicated that an animal was probably inside. Dr. Magoun tapped on the trap to see if there was a response from within. There wasn't. When she lifted the trap door she discovered a young female wolverine about one to two years old, weighing about 21 pounds (9.75 kg) curled up sleeping on spruce boughs, which had been placed in the trap.

The wolverine was immobilized and radio-collared and after she recovered, released back into the bush. The collar has both satellite and VHF transmitters. The satellite transmissions are picked up in Maryland and sent to Neil Dawson, Wildlife Assessment Program Leader and Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Wolverine Project Lead at Northwest Science and Information in Thunder Bay. The VHF transmitter allows Dr. Magoun and field staff to track the wolverine by motor vehicle and airplane. The wolverine has been nicknamed "Noël" because she was captured on Christmas day.

Although seeing a wolverine is rare, MNR has a Wolverine Reporting Program asking people to call if they think they have seen one. Recent media coverage of the project's first collared wolverine has resulted in two possible wolverine sightings being reported recently, just east of Thunder Bay, an area farther south than they generally occur in Ontario. Both reports described features of wolverines, which can be mistaken for the more common Fisher.

One couple contacted the ministry after seeing a picture of a wolverine in a local newspaper last December. They thought the animal they saw might have been a wolverine. Wolverines are dark brown with broad light stripes along their sides. They have a stocky bear-like body, a pronounced bushy tail, with large feet and short legs and travel with a loping gait. Some trappers in the Red Lake-Ear Falls area have reported increased wolverine activity on their trap lines this winter.

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** Related publication:

Magoun, A. J., J. C. Ray, D. S. Johnson, P. Valkenburg, F. N. Dawson, and J. Bowman. 2007. Modeling Wolverine Occurrence Using Aerial Surveys of Tracks in Snow. Journal of Wildlife Management. 71(7):2221-2229.