© Ole Martin Buene/Kristiansand Zoo Kasper the wolverine: You can keep your steenkin' cage
At Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday, it became clear that this precaution had not been taken.
A 40-pound male wolverine named Kasper was being shipped from a zoo in Norway to a conservation park in Alaska. At around 3:30 p.m., he arrived in Newark to change planes and go through United States Customs.
It was there that the animal's handler, Sarah Howard, noticed there was a hole in Kasper's cage.
"His head was sticking out," said Ms. Howard, a curator for the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, the wolverine's intended new home. She had flown to Newark to meet him.
The cage was made of metal, said Joseph Pentangelo, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport. "It's believed he chewed a hole in it."
Wolverines, which look kind of like small bears but are actually the largest members of the weasel family, are legendarily vicious. With long, sharp teeth, they have been known to kill animals many times their size, including caribou and white-tailed deer.
Kasper remained in his cage, but Ms. Howard was alarmed.
"She said it was growling and stuff like that, but maybe they do that all the time, walk around and make noise," Mike Miller, executive director of the conservation center, said.
A wildlife officer and a Port Authority police officer were summoned to Terminal C.
The cage was carefully placed in a transport van, Mr. Pentangelo said, "just to add another level of security, so that the wolverine wasn't a threat to himself or the public."
A new, uncompromised cage was procured from the Bronx Zoo, as was a wild animal veterinarian. The cages were put face to face and Kasper was encouraged to walk into the new one.
"He balked," Mr. Pentangelo said. "He did not want to go. He made it very clear."
The veterinarian administered a shot of ketamine, a tranquilizer. Kasper dropped off to sleep. The cage transfer was accomplished. And after an overnight stay at Terminal C, Kasper resumed his journey.
Kristiansand Zoo in Norway, which had sent Kasper, was closed on Wednesday evening when a reporter called, and no one there could be reached.
A decent life awaits Kasper in Alaska, where the conservation center sits on a 170-acre spread in the mountains about an hour southeast of Anchorage, in Portage.
He will get three acres, at least. That is not a lot by wolverine standards — they can range over 200 square miles — but it is enough to roam around.
And if all goes well, Mr. Miller said, he will have a mate.
"There's another facility, in Sweden, that is sending us a female," he said.
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