Huge good news! They saw a "fisher" in a park in Cleveland Ohio! This beautiful animal, once spread throughout North America, were extirpated in Ohio by the mid-1800s, due to hunting and habitat loss. But they may be coming back! This is the is the first sighting of a fisher in Cuyahoga County since the 1800s.
"The return of fishers and other extirpated species like otters, bobcats and trumpeter swans are a result of conservation efforts and emphasize the importance of our healthy forests, wetlands, waterways and natural areas in Cleveland Metroparks," the park system writes.
The fisher is in the same family as weasels, ferrets, martens, badgers and wolverines: the 'mustelids', a fierce group who punch above their weight. They like to eat snowshoe hares, and they're one of the few predators of porcupines - but they also eat anything else that comes their way, including fruits and mushrooms. Despite the name, they rarely eat fish; in fact the name comes from the colonial Dutch word 'fisse'. Although they're agile climbers, they spend most of their time on the forest floor.
The newly found fisher was briefly spotted by a trail camera, and you can see it on Instagram here:
For more on fishers:
Instagram
Cleveland Metroparks on Instagram: "Earlier this year, a fisher (Pekania pennanti) was recorded on a wildlife camera in Cleveland Metroparks and identified by Andy Burmesch, Cleveland Metroparks Wildlife Management Coordinator. The Ohio Division of Wildlife confirmed that this sighting in Cleveland Metroparks is the first record in Cuyahoga County since the species originally disappeared in the 1800s. They are listed as “Species of Special Interest” by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, it’s estimated that the fisher was extirpated in Ohio by the mid-1800s and the major causes were unregulated harvest and loss of habitat.
This is tremendously exciting, as this is yet another extirpated native Ohio mammal species to be documented for the first time in Cleveland Metroparks. The return of fishers and other extirpated species like otters, bobcats and trumpeter swans are a result of conservation efforts and emphasize the importance of our healthy forests, wetlands, waterways and natural areas in Cleveland Metroparks.
Video Credit: Ben PIazza, Cleveland Museum of Natural History"
38K likes, 466 comments - clevemetroparks on December 13, 2025: "Earlier this year, a fisher (Pekania pennanti) was recorded on a wildlife camera i...
Fisher (animal) - Wikipedia