Ulrich Wilson, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist for the coastal refuge reported
seeing a wolverine in the Olympics, probably 10 years ago. He was quite certain of his
identification and it is hard to find a more skilled or critical observer than Ulrich, in
my opinion. However, there will be little scientific acceptance of the existence of Wolverines
on the Olympic Peninsula until somebody comes up with a carcass or a good photo (or DNA
evidence gleaned from a hair snag :)

Did any of you hear about the lynx captured west of Olympia on New Year's eve (or thereabouts)?
It proved to be quite easy to trap thanks to a severe weakness for chicken which it had
reportedly eaten its entire life as a fat and happy captive that was released in the Capitol
Forest by its owners when they moved out of town.


Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington
Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov

On Thu, 10 Jan 2002, Kelly Cassidy wrote:

> Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 10:58:27 -0800
> From: Kelly Cassidy <lostriver at completebbs.com>
> To: lcain at seasurf.net, tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Subject: Re: Wolverines in the Olympics? (was Lynx in Raymond
>
> > Oregon snowshoes discussed this past year on OBOL. And I tend to be less
> > skeptical about such things ever since I saw a wolverine on the eastern
> edge
> > of the Olympics, near Brinnon, in 1986. Kinda hard to mistake anything
> for
> > a wolverine, but everybody tells me they don't live there either. One of
> > these days I plan to reconnoiter the Olympics a little more thoroughly for
> > that critter.
>
> A few years ago, a biologist at the Washington Department of Fish and
> Wildlife told me he saw what he was sure was a wolverine on the Olympic
> Peninsula. I've forgotten now who the biologist was. Wolverines are known
> to wander a long ways, but I wonder if the Olympics could support a
> population even if a pair made it there. Wolverines have large territories.
>
> Kelly Cassidy
> Pullman, WA
>
>