​Wolverines Seen In Mt. Rainier Park For First Time In 100 Years

For the first time in 100 years, wolverines have been seen in Mount Rainier National Park.

In a news release on Friday, the National Park Service said a female wolverine and her two offspring, called kits, were seen on wildlife cameras. Several photos of the wolverines can be seen on Mount Rainier's Flickr page.

Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins said the reemergence of wolverines is a sign the park is doing a good job creating an ecologically rich area suitable for the animal.

“It’s really, really exciting,” Jenkins said in a statement. “It tells us something about the condition of the park— that when we have such large-ranging carnivores present on the landscape that we’re doing a good job of managing our wilderness.”

The NPS said wolverines are incredibly rare in the U.S. with an estimated 300 to 1,000 living in the lower 48 states.

The NPS withheld the location of the wolverines' den out of concern it could be affected, but park visitors are still encouraged to stay vigilant for the animal.

“Backcountry enthusiasts, skiers, snowshoers and snowmobilers can help us monitor wolverines and contribute to studying their natural return to the Cascade ecosystem,” park ecologist Tara Chestnut said. “Wolverines are solitary animals and despite their reputation for aggressiveness in popular media, they pose no risk to park visitors. If you are lucky enough to see one in the wild, it will likely flee as soon as it notices you.”

Park visitors are encouraged to visit the Washington’s National Park Fund to learn to recognize wolverines and their tracks, and how to recreate safely without disturbing natural habitats.

Photos of wolverines or their tracks can be submitted to the Mount Rainier online wildlife observations database or the Cascades Wolverine Project.

“Reporting wildlife observations is very helpful to national park and other public land managers,” Chestnut said, “and if someone is lucky enough to get a photo of a wolverine or their tracks, we really want to know about it.”