A rare species has returned to the region after it was extirpated in Ohio for decades, and its numbers are increasing across the state.
A fisher was spotted earlier this year on a wildlife camera at Cleveland Metroparks, and was identified by Wildlife Management Coordinator Andy Burmesch. This fisher sighting is the first in Cuyahoga County in nearly 200 years, and the fisher to ever be spotted at Cleveland Metroparks.
The fisher is a mid-sized mustelid mammal related to the weasel that is typically found in forests.
"We don't have cameras everywhere and they don't see everything," said Jon Cepek, Cleveland Metroparks wildlife ecologist. "Usually, with our cameras out year-round at sites, sooner or later something goes in front of it."
The Ohio Division of Wildlife confirmed the fisher sighting Friday.
Fishers were considered to be extinct in Ohio by 1883 due, in large part, to habitat loss caused by humans.
"Twenty million acres of forest were removed by humans for farming, development, agriculture," Cepek said. "During that time period, by about 1900, we lost about 15 mammal species from Ohio."
These species included what are now some of the most common species in the region, like white-tailed deer, along with others not typically associated with Ohio's wildlife, such as porcupines, mountain lions and wolves, Cepek said.
Some of these species are still considered extirpated by the Ohio Division of Wildlife, having disappeared during settlement and have yet to return. Others have rebounded.
Otter and bobcat populations in the Metroparks have been on the rise since 2021 and 2022 respectively, Cepek said, and trumpeter swan numbers have increased significantly since being reintroduced to the park system in 1996.
The recent fisher sighting means local conservation efforts are working, Cepek said.
"We work for an organization that does value conservation and balances recreation," he said. "People now are understanding and, hopefully, caring and respectful enough of the environment that we can foster an environment of coexistence to have these species and not lose them again."
Fishers are naturally migrating into Ohio from populations already established in states like Pennsylvania, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. There have been about 40 fisher sightings across 10 counties in Ohio since the first one reported to the Division of Wildlife in 2013.
In February 2023, ODNR collected two fisher carcasses in Northeast Ohio. One of the carcasses was pregnant, meaning that the species was likely naturally reproducing in the state, according to a 2024 news release.
Cleveland Metroparks has about 200 wildlife cameras stationed throughout its park system. Metroparks officials will be monitoring this fisher to better understand how the species is adapting in Northeast Ohio's environment.
But park visitors likely won't spot a fisher for a while, Cepek said.
"It's not a species like deer that we, unfortunately, have [given] a lot of resources, and it's adapted, and it is very comfortable in our backyard," Cepek said. "This is a species that's new and probably very wary of people and development. So, if you would happen to see it, you'd be incredibly fortunate."
The Metroparks received a few false reports of fisher sightings, Cepek said, since the animal can resemble a mink. Fishers tend be larger than mink, measuring between 2 1/2 to 4 feet long and between 4 and 15 pounds.
Verified fisher sightings can be reported to the Metroparks or to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, Cepek said.
