TURNER PUBLISHING • November 20, 2020
A member of the weasel family, fishers are comparable in size to house cats. They are native to North America, primarily in Canada’s boreal forests and the northern United States, although fossil evidence indicates their range used to extend farther south. Often referred to as a “fisher cat,” it’s not a cat at all, and despite its name, rarely eats fish. An agile climber and solitary hunter, it forages around fallen trees feeding on a variety of small animals (primarily snowshoe hares and porcupines), supplementing its diet with birds, insects, nuts, berries, mushrooms and road kill or carrion. I found it interesting that a Maine wildlife study documented 14 fisher-caused mortalities of Canada lynx from 1999 to 2011.