A wolverine can cross a mountain range in a day. One scientist is trying to count them anyway
VANCOUVER, BC – SEPTEMBER 21, 2026 – The Green Channel begins streaming Chasing a Trace, director Leanne Allison’s film about one of the hardest animals in Canada to study and the scientist who decided to try anyway.
Wolverines are powerful, solitary and almost never seen. They need big spaces. They patrol enormous territories, covering ground daily that would take a hiker days, which is precisely what makes them so difficult to count.
The method depends on a quirk of the animal. Every wolverine carries a unique pale patch of fur on its chest, distinct enough that researchers use it to tell individuals apart, almost like a fingerprint. Get a camera in the right place at the right moment and the animal identifies itself.
The stakes are not abstract. In June 2018 the wolverine was added to Schedule 1 of Canada’s Species at Risk Act as a species of special concern. A ten-year Parks Canada study across Banff, Yoho and Kootenay national parks found the number of wolverines in the study area had dropped by 39 percent. Trapping, logging, backcountry ski access and development all press on an animal that needs room and quiet. And winter disturbance can push wolverines out of the habitat they depend on.
Barrueto’s work points past wolverines. The same problem shapes research on other animals that are scarce, wide-ranging and rarely photographed. Build a method that works on wolverines and it travels.
“Everybody knows the name and most people have never seen one,” said Scott Renyard, founder of The Green Channel. “That is the problem Mirjam is working on, and it is the same problem facing anyone trying to protect an animal is difficult to count. I remember when I was about 10, my Dad and I were fishing way up Laforme Creek near Revelstoke, B.C. We found a log jam and managed to catch a couple of dolly varden trout and Dad put them on a log right behind us. A few minutes later we caught another fish and went to put it with the others. And they were gone. When we left the log jam, Dad saw fresh wolverine tracks in the dirt coming off the logs we were on. It came up right behind us and stole our catch and we didn’t even know it was there. They are very smart and elusive.”
In the film, Mirjam Barrueto puts it this way: “I want to help other scientists studying similar species, similar questions. Snow leopards, tigers. We have the same problem, animals that are hard to study, there are not many of them.”
Chasing a Trace runs 20 minutes and features Mirjam Barrueto, Marco Musiani, Bob Sayer, Jesse McClintock and Jon Effa, with wolverine footage by Andrew Manske and Peter Mather and story editing by Nettie Wild.
Chasing a Trace is streaming now on The Green Channel, the environmental documentary streaming platform.
About The Green Channel
The Green Channel is a Canadian environmental documentary streaming platform with a growing library of exclusive films and series: thegreenchannel.tv
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Company Name: The Green Channel Inc.
Contact Person: Scott Renyard
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City: Vancouver
State: British Columbia
Country: Canada
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