Wolverine possibly spotted in Rocky Mountain National Park

At first, Ray Rafiti thought a black bear spooked the elk he was photographing at Rocky Mountain National Park above treeline near Trail Ridge Road last Friday.

Too agile to be a black bear, he said, the animal looked more like the wolverine that wandered into Colorado from Wyoming in mid-June.

Rafiti, a freelance and wildlife photographer, said the animal looked "thick, squatty and black" with a very noticeable tail, something a black bear doesn't have.

He shot some pictures before the animal bolted and informed the National Park Service on Saturday.

Colorado Division of Wildlife and park officials suspect the animal Rafiti photographed is the first wolverine to be spotted in Rocky Mountain National Park since it was established in 1915 and the first to be seen in Colorado since 1919.

The park gets reports of wolverine sightings all the time, Park Service spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said.

"Rarely does the report come along with photographs like this does. From everything we can tell about the photograph, there's nothing to make us suspect at this point they're not legitimate."