Neighborhood Uproar

Fisher front print
found in blood on
my back porch
after a fisher broke
into my pigeons'
cage and killed them

As anyone who read my article Fisher cats kill will know, a fisher recently squeezed its way into my cage of pet fancy pigeons and killed them. After this happened, and after noticing many Missing Cat signs around my neighborhood, I decided to research this elusive animal, and what I discovered has more than one person in an uproar.

Fisher cats are weasel-like animals with a slender body, short legs and elongated bushy tail. They can squeeze themselves into fairly small spaces, basically anywhere their skull can fit. In 1988, as it turns out, the DEP Wildlife Division reintroduced the fisher cat to Connecticut after deforestation, logging and agriculture demands in the 19th century made this species virtually extinct in the state.

Now, however, it appears this freshly reintro-ed species is wreaking havoc in suburban neighborhoods around the state. According to the DEP website, fisher cat diets include "squirrels, rabbits, mice, voles, carrion, fruits, mast (primarily beechnuts), porcupines, birds, and frogs." I don't see cats and small dogs on the list, but in the suburb they are certainly on the fisher's menu. The site also goes on to state, "In what is termed a "soft release," fishers were penned and fed at the release site for a couple of weeks prior to being released. Through radio-tracking and snow-tracking biologists found that the fishers remained in northwestern Connecticut, had high survival rates, and successfully reproduced. As a result of this project, a viable, self-sustaining population of this native mammal is now established in western Connecticut. Fishers are found throughout eastern Connecticut as a result of natural range expansion."

Ask anyone who has recently lost a beloved pet to one of these critters and they will tell you that this natural spread is not such a good thing. Particularly when they are now coming right up to people's houses and snatching anything they can get their teeth onto. And what will be next on their menu after cats and domestic pigeons?

Though statistics dictate a fisher would be unlikely to attack a human, what if an unknowing child happened upon one or was able to corner it? Yes, fishers are quite elusive, but these animals are vicious and nasty and children are curious. If you live near any wooded area, however small, please be careful. As I research these animals more, I am finding complaints of them geting closer and closer to houses becoming more common.

When a dog attacks other people's pets, what happens to the dog? So, why doesn't the DEP Wildlife Division take action, and responsibility for this dangerous creature they "reintroduced" to the state? Am I going to get reimbursement for my lost birds, or for the vet bills incurred when I had to have the lone survivor put down because her leg had been ripped off? I highly doubt it.

Also, the DEP claims; "Alert and secretive, the fisher is a rewarding sight to the wildlife observer. Finding and identifying fisher tracks can add interest to a winter hike or cross-country ski trip."

How about finding and identifying fisher tracks in blood on my back porch? That's a nightmare scene that will stick with me for a long time., and it was anything BUT rewarding.