Wolverine spotted in Airdrie driveway

A wolverine was photographed Friday morning in an Airdrie driveway. (Photo courtesy Mason Bett)

There was a rare wildlife sighting in Airdrie Friday morning.

A wolverine was spotted roaming around the Morningside neighbourhood.

CTV viewer Mason Bett snapped a few photos of the wolverine walking by, while looking out his front window.

The province says fish and wildlife officers were monitoring the situation.

The wolverine is a solitary animal that is not spotted very often and it has great strength for its size.

A wolverine was sighted by wildlife photographer Gordon Cooke who photographed it a little over a month ago in a park in south Calgary, at an undislosed location.

At one time, wolverines lived on the prairie, but the species has a low tolerance for human activity and there have been only a handful of sightings over the past 100 years.

"They are extremely rare. They take a very long time to breed. And so we need to do everything in our power to make sure that wolverine is able to get to a safe place," said Aerin Jacob, director of science and research at the Nature Conservancy of Canada, in an interview with CTV News.

If you see a wolverine or can positively identify their tracks, researchers would like to hear about it at https://www.wolverinewatch.org.

With files from Bill Macfarlane