FISHER FURY: After seeing our photograph of a fisher in Round
the Square last week, we had a call from Christine Hendryx of Lantz
Corners who knows first-hand about these “Tasmanian devils” – as
she called them.
“Fishers are absolutely deadly,” she said, “They hunt by day and
night.” In fact, fishers killed four of her favorite pet chickens.
“The government brings these things in,” she added.
Christine said she has spent a fortune on her chickens and
special fencing but the fishers, a relative of the weasel, have
found a way to penetrate the barrier. She will hear the birds
squawking, and run down to the coop to see her chickens all up on
their perches.
She had seen one fisher hit by a car and had hoped her problem
was solved. Now, though, she fears for her remaining chickens and
her five cats.
“The only things left around here are bears, fishers and
coyotes,” she said.
Christine was calling to find out how to deal with these
creatures which are protected in the state of Pennsylvania.
Would any readers have suggestions for Christine?
WILD THING: How does one kill a porcupine? Our fascination with
a fishers’ feasting on this prickly meal led us to some research on
this mini-wolverine.
One website reports: “Speed and sheer determination help the
fisher execute the kill. They first attack head on, going for the
vulnerable face where the porcupine has no quills. The porcupine in
turn spins around to point its spines at the fisher. The fisher
then jumps directly over its prey, forcing the porcupine to keep
turning to protect its vulnerable head.”
“A dozen or more such maneuvers suffice to exhaust and confuse
the porcupine into a stupor in which it can no longer protect
itself. Then, by repeatedly biting and scratching at the
porcupine’s face, the fisher causes it to bleed to death. The
fisher eats the porcupine by flipping the dead animal over and
starting with its unprotected belly.”
The fisher, an agile tree-climber, will employ similar methods
if a porcupine attempts escape in a tree.
One website added that, after the attack: “The porcupine is then
eaten leaving an empty quill-covered skin.”
