The wolverine has a reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is one of the most powerful, thievish, daring, and efficient killing machines known to man,\u201d writes Mark Allardyce in Wolverine: A Look into the Devil\u2019s Eyes<\/em>. The creature\u2019s English name derives from the word wolver, or \u201cwolf-like.\u201d Its scientific label, Gulo gulo, comes from the Latin for \u201cglutton.\u201d It has been known to eat its victims\u2014which include everything from deer and sheep to full-grown caribou\u2014bones, teeth, and all. The animal has been called the hyena of the north. When you type \u201cCan a wolverine\u201d into Google, the search engine offers \u201ckill a polar bear?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise, then, that Mike Miller\u2019s proposal to train wolverines to search for\u2014and help rescue\u2014avalanche survivors has raised some eyebrows around his corner of Alaska, near Anchorage.<\/p>\n \u201cNew ideas normally do sound ridiculous,\u201d Miller says from his office at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center<\/a>, about an hour south of Anchorage in a valley popular with backcountry adventurers. The organization, which Miller founded two decades ago, houses hundreds of displaced or orphaned animals and has worked on big projects like reintroducing the Wood Bison<\/a> to the Alaskan wilderness\u00a0and repatriating condors from the San Diego Zoo. But what\u2019s got Miller excited these days is training and breeding Kayla and Kasper, the two wolverines he\u2019s recently acquired.<\/p>\n \u201cAnything you can train a dog to do, you can train a wolverine to do, five times quicker,\u201d Miller says.<\/p>\n Miller is fully aware that his plan sounds a little ridiculous. When I emailed him to ask about his idea, he felt compelled to defend it preemptively. \u201cOne hundred years ago, people who suggested using dogs for avalanche victim search were thought to be crazy,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI hope your readers understand that we are professional and serious.\u201d<\/p>\n On the phone, Miller\u2019s pitch is compelling. Right now, avalanche search and rescue or recovery is carried out by dogs\u2014usually shepherds or retrievers\u2014who walk the avalanche site with trainers, hectare by hectare, hunting for the scent of buried humans. Wolverines, Miller says, were born to do this; smelling a creature 20 feet below the snow is instinctive for them. They\u2019re known to run along avalanche lines searching for dinner among the animals buried deep in the slide. The squat, bear-like member of the weasel family is famed for powering up difficult terrain that would require professional climbing equipment for humans.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOne hundred years ago people who suggested using dogs for avalanche victim search were thought to be crazy,\u201d Miller wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Despite the animal\u2019s ferocious distinction, training a wolverine is not as outlandish as it may sound. There is a small fraternity of individuals who have successfully raised wolverines in captivity. Steve Kroschel, a prolific wildlife filmmaker, runs the Kroschel Wildlife Center in Haines, Alaska. He\u2019s been raising wolverines for 35 years. He has home videos of playing with the animals<\/a>: they jump on his back; they somersault through the snow; they chase Kroschel around like golden retrievers. \u201cThey\u2019re very, very playful, and they have a great sense of humor,\u201d Kroschel says. \u201cThey\u2019re loyal. Once they know you well, it sticks\u2014they\u2019re kind to you.\u201d<\/p>\n If anyone has been working to rehabilitate the wolverine\u2019s image, it\u2019s Kroschel. In 1991, he took a couple down to Burbank for a taping of “The Tonight Show<\/a>,”\u00a0<\/strong>much to Johnny Carson\u2019s discomfort on screen. \u201cThe wolverines did just fine,\u201d Kroschel says. Then he brought out wolverine cubs on “The Today Show”\u00a0with Katie\u00a0Couric, and PBS and National Geographic<\/em> came calling, asking to feature his wolverines in documentaries on the animal. \u201cIt\u2019s a media revelation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Kroschel has Miller\u2019s female wolverine, Kayla, at his center right now to hopefully breed with one his trained males. (It is notoriously difficult to convince wolverines to breed in captivity, Kroschel and others say.) He\u2019s working closely with Chandelle Cotter, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center\u2019s animal behaviorist and training advisor<\/a>. Cotter, who has experience training everything from black bears to giraffes, says the experience has been eye opening.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Mike first approached me with the idea I kind of giggled,\u201d Cotter says. \u201cBut I thought about it more\u2014and why not? There are species being used across the board for different things,\u201d from training rats to hunt for landmines<\/a> in Cambodia\u00a0to teaching dogs to sniff for cancer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cotter says that only the wolverines born in captivity and raised with humans are up for the task of search and rescue. She says that with a program based on operant conditioning\u2014i.e., positive reinforcement in the form of snacks for good behavior\u2014they could be up and running in a few years\u2019 time. \u201cI have so much admiration and respect for the people who do search and recovery,\u201d she says. \u201cAll we want to do, if this is a possibility, is give them another tool.\u201d<\/p>\n Kroschel is confident, too. A few years ago, he simulated a wolverine avalanche rescue for a special on the National Geographic channel. He buried the show\u2019s host in a few feet of snow, then sent his wolverine after the \u201cvictim.\u201d Without any prior training, Jasper, the wolverine, dug the host out<\/a>.\u00a0(His natural instinct to dig up carcasses and his predilection toward humans, instilled from the hours Kroschel spent bottle-feeding him as a kit, both apparently kicked in.) \u201cTo train a wolverine to find a victim in an avalanche is not a big a stretch at all, Kroschel says. \u201cTrain them a couple times with a scent from a coat or somebody and they\u2019ll dig it up. They\u2019re excellent diggers\u2014no dog can dig as fast as wolverine. And they\u2019re easily leash-trained. Put them in the helicopter, they\u2019ll fly right out [to the avalanche site.]\u201d (Kroschel says his wolverines love helicopter flights.)<\/p>\n Miller and Cotter say their wolverines won\u2019t do any digging\u2014they\u2019ll just be employed for their powerful olfactory system and ability to navigate harsh terrain. The center has been in close contact with the state Fish and Game department and employees there are \u201clooking on in with interest<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0(The department is already well aware that the wolverine has a bad wrap<\/a>\u00a0and, Miller says, is staffed with a few wolverine enthusiasts.) But not everyone is on board with the idea.\u00a0<\/p>\n