wolverines?

[dave1969]

I've just been watching frozen planet when they showed the wolverine i realised that an animal i saw 30 years ago that was chased out of some brambles by my dogs at the time, was almost certainly a wolverine. I've often wondered what it was and I always described it as a tall thin badger with a longer fluffy tail.
The area was a piece of scrub/marshland alongside a river where there is a small quay for a breakers yard where ships from abroad often dock so its possible it was brought over on one of these and then released. Are there any other sightings of these animals in britain?

[Kayleigh]

Where are you, I have never heard of them here.

[Jim Ford]

Seen loads of them when out photographing Big Cats. Unfortunately the only images I have of them are blurry, a long way away and look like medium sized black dogs.

;^)

Jim

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by jim ford

seen loads of them when out photographing big cats. Unfortunately the only images i have of them are blurry, a long way away and look like medium sized black dogs.

;^)

jim

lol..:d:d

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by dave1969

I've just been watching frozen planet when they showed the wolverine i realised that an animal i saw 30 years ago that was chased out of some brambles by my dogs at the time, was almost certainly a wolverine. I've often wondered what it was and I always described it as a tall thin badger with a longer fluffy tail.
The area was a piece of scrub/marshland alongside a river where there is a small quay for a breakers yard where ships from abroad often dock so its possible it was brought over on one of these and then released. Are there any other sightings of these animals in britain?

Hi Dave, where are/were you and have you any photos? I don't know of any traditions of sailors keeping Wolverines as pets, but you never can say never. What sort of dog did you have, a Wolverine could take a lot of chasing.

[aeshna5]

I would have thought it extremely unlikely + probably a case of mistaken identity.

I was really lucky to see a Wolverine a few years ago in the early hours. I was in a hide bear watching (baited outside) in Finland + as well as being lucky to watch several Brown Bears at close quarters somebody was awake + alerted us to see the Wolverine- tghe largest mustelid.

[The Woodman]

Hi Dave1969 and welcome to WAB.

I doubt your sighting was of a Wolverine but your description of the animal intrigues me. You don't say where you saw it but describe the location. I can think of one place in South Cumbria that would fit the bill and I've seen several pictures of an animal with those characteristics.

In fact there was one report of a sighting logged with Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre in 2010. I also know of a taxidermist who has had two of these animals given to him, one of which had been shot.

They have been seen throughout South Cumbria for several years, I have seen one in Roudsea National Nature Reserve not too far from where one was trapped in a hen house.

I believe the Coatimundi has been responsible for many big cat sightings in this area.

[faz]

welcome to WAB dave as you are the only person see this you may well have a done it is possible that it escaped from a zoo/private collection i dont know of any public zoo,s that house them in the uk

[dave1969]

Thanks for the replys, the exact location was about a mile upstream from the briton ferry bridge on the m4 in south wales, for anyone that asked.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by dave1969

I've just been watching frozen planet when they showed the wolverine i realised that an animal i saw 30 years ago that was chased out of some brambles by my dogs at the time, was almost certainly a wolverine. I've often wondered what it was and I always described it as a tall thin badger with a longer fluffy tail.

South Wales 30 years ago, could just possibly have been a Pine Marten, much smaller than a wolverine but morphologically comparable, and over 30 years memory is a fairly poor measure of size.

CM