SALT LAKE CITY — State wildlife officials say a rare wolverine was found in Utah this week after the animal was hit and killed by a car near northern Utah's Bear Lake.
The state Division of Wildlife Resources says the last wolverine sighting in Utah was in 2014, when an animal was caught on a camera near a bait station in the Uinta Mountains.
Leslie McFarlane with the DWR says officials don't know how many wolverines, if any, live in Utah but about 250 to 300 live in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington.
Division director Greg Sheehan says in a statement that the young female wolverine found near the town of Laketown appears to have made its way into Utah.
Wildlife officials say a necropsy will be performed on the animal to confirm its cause of death and learn more about it.
The animals are not protected under the Endangered Species Act