Camilla Jessen
Rare animal sighting sparks excitement in USA.
Cameras set up in a Cleveland woodland have captured a rare visitor not seen locally since the 1800s.
The animal observed is a fisher, a medium-sized member of the weasel family long believed absent from Ohio.
Cleveland Metroparks shared the footage on social media, calling the discovery “tremendously exciting.”
According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, this marks the first confirmed record of a fisher in Cuyahoga County since the species disappeared from the state in the mid-19th century. They once lived throughout North American forests but were wiped out in Ohio due to habitat loss and unregulated trapping.
Fishers have never been documented in the U.K. or elsewhere in Europe; their range remains limited to the United States and Canada.
Conservation milestone
State officials list the fisher as a “Species of Special Interest,” and Cleveland Metroparks said the new evidence reflects decades of restoration work.
In a statement, the organization noted that the return of fishers joins similar recoveries involving otters, bobcats and trumpeter swans.
The footage shows an agile animal moving through the woods, a species sometimes misidentified because of its nickname, “fisher cat,” despite having no relation to felines.
Scenic Hudson describes fishers as solitary and wide-ranging, with a varied diet.
Despite their name, they rarely consume fish; instead they feed on fruit, amphibians, reptiles, birds and their eggs, fungi, squirrels and other small mammals.
Sources: Cleveland Metroparks, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Scenic Hudson, Mirror
