"BILLINGS, Mont. — The Obama administration brushed over the threat that climate change poses to the snow-loving wolverine when it denied protections for the elusive predator also known as the "mountain devil," a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ordered wildlife officials to act as quickly as possible to protect the species as it becomes vulnerable to a warming planet. Wolverines need deep mountain snows to den, and scientists warn that such habitat will shrink as Earth heats up.

The ruling comes two years after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected the views of many of its own scientists and decided not to protect the wolverine under the Endangered Species Act, saying the effects of climate change on the animals remained ambiguous.

The judge said in his 85-page order that the "time is now" to take action to protect the wolverine."

Matthew Brown reports for the Associated Press April 4, 2016. [2]