Common Name:

Fisher

Scientific Name:

Martes pennanti

Image distributed under Creative Commons
license, courtesy Flickr user Kingarfer

Unique Qualities:

A fisher looks a bit like a large black cat with a pointed fox-like face and rounded ears. It has a long, thin body with short legs and a long bushy tail. Male fishers are usually about 20 percent larger than females. Their fur is usually dark brown with black legs and tail and white or cream patches on its chest. Fishers have large feet that have hairy soles and sharp claws on each of their five toes.

Can be Seen:

Fishers used to be found across much of North America, but now can only be found in Canada and a few locations in the United States. They can be found in most of the provinces and territories except Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut. Fishers are most common in the southern parts of the boreal forest. Fishers spend most of their time on or near the ground, even though they are very good at climbing trees. They like to travel on fallen logs. When they need to get away from predators or very bad weather they will use temporary shelters such as hollow trees, logs, stumps and holes in the ground. The only time that they have a permanent den is when they raise their young.

Diet:

Fishers are considered to be a generalist predator which means that they eat any available prey. They are omnivores but about 80 percent of a fisher’s diet is made up of meat. Their favourite meals include snowshoe hares, red squirrels, red-backed voles and shrews.

The fisher is one of the few animals that can catch and eat a porcupine. In addition they also eat birds, fish, insects, fruit and berries, and carrion (dead animals). They usually attack their prey from behind and may change direction many times in order to catch them. Although fishers are excellent predators, in the winter they have to forage for food on the snow’s surface because they are not very good at catching prey under the snow.

Status:

Fishers have not been evaluated Canada-wide, so they are still considered to be “not at risk”. Different provinces don’t feel the same way though. They are considered “sensitive” in Alberta and “vulnerable” in British Columbia.  A lot of the population decline is due to habitat loss and trapping. Fishers are considered “furbearers”, so in some provinces, during specific times of the year, people can legally trap them for their fur.