Are fishers returning to Ohio after 200 years?
An animal that has been gone from Ohio for nearly two centuries is making a comeback and is pushing its way westward from the Pennsylvania border.
An animal believed to be a fisher, a mammal related to river otters and weasels, was discovered as roadkill near Kent on Sunday.
It was found at the intersection of state Route 59 and state Route 261, in Franklin Township near Kent State University, according to William Ressler, who found the animal and reported it to state wildlife officials. If confirmed by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, it could be the farthest west that one has been spotted in the state.
Ressler said he was driving state Route 59 toward Kent when he spotted the animal, which he recognized as a fisher, he told the Beacon Journal.
A hunter, Ressler said he has known that fishers have been making inroads in Ohio. He called the Portage County wildlife officer and left a message since it was a weekend, reported the roadkill to the Ohio Highway Patrol, and then left.
A few minutes later, the wildlife officer returned his call, so Ressler returned to the animal to find a couple of Kent State students trying to collect it for university study, as they believed it to be a fisher as well, Ressler said. Then the wildlife officer arrived, also agreeing that it appeared to be a fisher, and collected it for ODNR biologists to study.
How to report a fisher sighting
The Division of Wildlife relies, in part, on public reports to monitor Ohio’s growing fisher population, as well as black bears, badgers, weasels, and bobcats. Report observations, including photos or videos, to the Division of Wildlife via the HuntFish OH mobile app or at wildohio.gov. Contact your county wildlife officer to report roadkill fishers. It is not permitted to collect roadkill carcasses.
Agency studying fishers in Ohio
The ODNR Division of Wildlife collects roadkill fishers found in Ohio to determine age and test genetics.
According to Laurie Brown, wildlife research technician with the Division of Wildlife, the fisher found in Kent will be sent to Columbus for a necropsy. There, the wildlife biologist will examine its general health, possibly look at stomach contents to study its diet and, if female, check to see if the animal was pregnant or breeding.
Fishers disappeared from Ohio by the mid-1800s, as settlers cleared their habitat and hunted them to near-extinction, according to Farm and Dairy.
Since then, there have been 40 confirmed fisher sightings across nine northeast Ohio counties (Ashtabula, Columbiana, Geauga, Trumbull, Mahoning, Lake, Jefferson, Harrison, and Tuscarawas), according to ODNR. Twothirds of those — about 26 sightings — happened in the past three years. They are moving westward from established populations in Pennsylvania and naturally colonizing Ohio.
“I have no doubt we have fishers in and around Portage County,” Brown said.
Most of the reports of fishers in Ohio come from Ashtabula County, she said, and some from Trumbull. Last year, there were reports out of Geauga County.
Brown said the report out of Kent is probably the farthest west they’ve had.
Recently, the ODNR confirmed that a fisher found as roadkill in Ashtabula in 2023 was pregnant, a sign that the animals were colonizing the state. Brown said it says a lot when an animal that once was here is returning, starting to reproduce and thrive.
“I think it’s great that we’re starting to see them more and more and get more reports of them in Ohio,” she said.
Both Pennsylvania and West Virginia conducted a reintroduction program for fishers, Brown said, and that population is starting to expand to Ohio. The programs in both states were so successful, both now offer a fisher trapping season.
What is a fisher?
Despite frequently being called a “fisher cat,” fishers are not cats, nor do they catch fish. They are forest-dwelling carnivorous members of the weasel family.
They mostly live in southern Canada, New England and New York, but can be found in scattered locations in Pennsyl
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A lot has changed in the world over the years, Flowers said, but some things remain the same.
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