An elusive creature known for its ferocious hunting skills has been caught on camera during a rare sighting in Pennsylvania.
The sleek forest-dwelling mammal, known as a fisher, was though to have been eliminated in the Keystone state due to unregulated hunting and massive deforestation in the late 19th century.
At the time of the latest trail cam sighting in the woods in Murrysville, the fisher had previously only been spotted in areas two to three hours away.
‘I put the camera on an old fallen log in a remote area and kept it there several months,’ Bill Powers, founder the wildlife streaming service, PixCams, told Murrysville Star.
‘I pulled the SD card last week and to my amazement it captured a photo of a fisher in mid-June,’ he continued.
The forest-dwelling mammal, known as a fisher, was eliminated in Pennsylvania due to unregulated hunting and massive deforestation in the late 19th century
Bill Powers, founder the wildlife streaming service, PixCams, recently posted the footage of a fisher, describing the sighting as ‘like Christmas morning’
Powers described finding the footage as ‘like Christmas morning’.
‘You never know what you might see. That was the case yesterday,’ he added.
The fisher is a mid-sized carnivore, and the second largest member of the weasel family in Pennsylvania.
Adult males can weigh up to 15 pounds and females up to nine pounds. Males are typically longer, ranging from 35 to 48 inches, while females are usually between 30 to 37 inches.
Surprisingly, fishers are not named for their fishing skills, as the omnivorous member of the weasel family does not typically eat fish.
Instead, the animal was named for its similar characteristics to the European polecat, or ‘fitch’.
At the time of the uncommon sighting, spotted by livestreaming wildlife cameras, the fisher had only been seen in areas 2 to 3 hours away
Surprisingly, fishers are not named for their fishing skills, as the omnivorous member of the weasel family does not typically eat fish, but instead was named for its similar characteristics to the European polecat, or ‘fitch’
Fishers use scent to locate prey and are renowned for their remarkable ability to stalk porcupines – and is one of only a few mammals to do so.
A porcupine’s dangerous quills make them hard to kill but the stealth-mannered fisher targets the rodents’ vulnerabilities such as their head and face.
Fishers also hunt rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, mice, reptiles and occasionally outdoor cats.
The woodland-mammal is unique among forest carnivores in that they are well adapted to forage effectively within the canopy as well as on the floor, often munching on berries and fruit.
The fisher is most commonly found in Massachusetts, New England, New York and southern Canada, with few-and-far-between sightings in Pennsylvania.
Powers, whose aim is to help people connect with nature through his live-streamed wildlife recordings, described the sighting as ‘super rare, kind of like finding a needle in a haystack’. Pictured: Bill Powers assembling an outdoor camera fixture
Because loggers and farmers cleared much of the forest land to make room for industry, the fisher population dwindled before intentional reintroduction efforts from wildlife advocates brought them back to northern New England.
Known to avoid open areas like fields and roads, the fisher prefers forest habitats – which have been impacted by climate change.
Powers, whose aim is to help people connect with nature through his live-streamed wildlife recordings, described the recent sighting as ‘super rare, kind of like finding a needle in a haystack’.
