Colorado lawmakers open door to wolverine return

On the heels of Colorado’s reintroduction of wolves, the state is paving the way to return wolverines to the landscape. Colorado lawmakers have approved Senate bill 171, which calls for “the reintroduction of the North American wolverine in the state.”

The bill was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Dylan Roberts and Republican Sen. Perry Will, both of whom were critics of the voter-approved wolf (Canis lupus) reintroduction. The legislators crafted the wolverine (Gulo gulo) reintroduction bill with input from residents of Colorado’s Western Slope, the resort industry and wildlife biologists—input critics said was missing from the wolf effort.

The bill calls for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate an experimental wolverine population in Colorado, which could allow for the killing or harming of the endangered species to protect human life or livestock. The bill also creates a compensation fund for ranchers who lose livestock to wolverines.

A possible plan calls for releasing up to 45 wolverines over three years in northern, central and southern portions of the state.

Read more from the Colorado Sun.