A wildlife enthusiast west of Calgary got the surprise of a lifetime earlier this year when one of his trail cameras captured something he had never seen before \u2014 a wolverine.<\/p>\n
Joel, who operates dozens of trail cameras in the region west of the city, said the elusive animal appeared on one of his cameras on Feb. 12.<\/p>\n
The camera had been set up overlooking a wolf-killed site along a tributary of Jumping Pound Creek to observe which animals might return to scavenge.<\/p>\n
Instead, a wolverine wandered into frame.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a first-in-a-lifetime opportunity,\u201d Joel said. \u201cI immediately started sharing it with friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n
The camera uses cellular technology to send images directly to his phone, allowing him to see wildlife activity in near real time.<\/p>\n
Joel said the sighting stood out because, despite travelling widely for work and recreation, he had never encountered the animal before.<\/p>\n
\u201cI put about 100,000 kilometres a year on my truck between work and play,\u201d he said. \u201cFrom as far north as Pink Mountain in B.C. down to Waterton \u2014 and I\u2019ve never seen a wolverine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel said he runs about 13 trail cameras within a half-mile stretch of the area where the animal appeared, and roughly 40 cameras in total between Calgary and the surrounding area.<\/p>\n
Most of the wildlife captured on those cameras is more familiar species.<\/p>\n
He often sees wolves moving through the area and has also captured images of cougars. Coyotes and skunks appear regularly, and both grizzly and black bears are common in the region.<\/p>\n
Originally, Joel expected the camera would capture wolves returning to the carcass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t sure what else might show up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wolverines are solitary carnivores and the largest member of the weasel family, according to a Government of Alberta species fact sheet published in 2003. In winter, the animals often rely on carrion from large animals killed by predators or other causes.<\/p>\n
Parks Canada says wolverines cover a \u201cphenomenal amount of territory\u201d in the Rocky Mountains and can travel vast distances across alpine and forested terrain.<\/p>\n
By the time the animal reached Joel\u2019s camera site, the wolf kill had already been stripped down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was basically just skin and bone,\u201d he said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything left to eat \u2014 it was just the smell of what had been there.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Joel shared the image in several wildlife groups on social media, the post quickly sparked debate among users, with one group eventually disabling comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of opinions,\u201d he said. \u201cSome people were saying there\u2019s hunting seasons for wolverines. That\u2019s not true. There\u2019s a trapping season, but not in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the Government of Alberta fact sheet, the species was historically found across Alberta but is now largely restricted to the northern boreal region and the province\u2019s mountains and foothills. The provincial population has been estimated at fewer than 1,000 breeding individuals.<\/p>\n
In Canada, wolverines are listed as a species of \u201cSpecial Concern\u201d under the federal Species at Risk Act.<\/p>\n
Placing trail cameras often means hiking deep into remote areas, Joel said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI walk with my dog everywhere I go,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m out just adventuring and exploring.\u201d<\/p>\n
For him, the excitement comes from never knowing what might appear next.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou find somewhere that\u2019s covered with tracks and heavily used, and you\u2019re like \u2014 what all comes down this main track?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the suspense of not knowing what\u2019s going to show up. One day it could be a golden eagle, the next day it could be a wolverine. You just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n
Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@discoverairdrie.com. You can also message and follow us on Twitter: @AIR1061FM.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wildlife enthusiast west of Calgary got the surprise of a lifetime earlier this year when one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":526536,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-526535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526535\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}