Fisher
(image: tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com)
Greetings neighbours,
I am sending you this personal message because I think it is of general interest in our community. Recently, several cats have disappeared in our neighbourhood. I lost two cats in a ten-day period. Several of my neighbours near Ch. Mille-Isles West have also lots cats: they live on Mille-Isle East, Tamaracouta, and also on Lac Hughes.Yesterday evening my next door neighbours saw a fisher (Martes pennanti) close to their house. This confirms my suspicions about the guilty party. Fishers can also attack small dogs. A resident of Wentworth North lost two cats and a small dog.
What we can do to protect our pets, apart from keeping them close to us, is to ask trappers, with the necessary permits, to install traps on the terriory. Fishers may be trapped from Oct. 25th to March 1st.
I hope you have better luck than I have with your small animals.
Manon Laroche, citoyenne de Mille-Isles
Note from translator
My sympathies to all who lost a beloved pet. However, I must comment that traps themselves pose a danger to our animals, if they roam. Animals other than the desired species suffer a slow, painful death. If traps must be used, local residents should be informed of their location. Note that traps may not be put on private property without permission from the owners. Having chosen to live in the woods, the natural environment of many predators, we keep our cats inside.
A message received from Manon Laroche of Forum Mille-Isles and the translator of her message.
When I lived in Hudson, there was a great hue and cry over the depredations inflicted by fishers on cats. There was a very infestation of fishers and a resultant decline in domestic pet cat numbers. The fishers were cocky and visible. That said, they could be doing conservation and the environment an important service.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, the NY Times published an article about a report from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute on the ravages wrought by domestic cats on wildlife ( http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html?_r=0 ) They found that domestic cats kill "2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year, most of them native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles, rather than introduced pests like the Norway rat."
Most of the killings were by feral cats, but almost 30% were the product of free-ranging domestic pets.
I have seen cats kill: dragonfly, butterfly, grasshopper, snake, frog, squirrel, chipmunk, vole, shrew, mouse, weasel (yes, really) and untold numbers of birds which, as we know, are already in decline.
While mammals at the top of the food chain are cool, they wouldn't be there without the little guys at the bottom of the food chain...the stuff cats slaughter. Frankly, if you let your cat go outdoors, I suspect Mother Nature will be rooting for the fishers.
- kmh
Fishers are not the main culprit for the loss of small mammals, such as our pets. Foxes and Coyotes are! I would discourage any trapping of Pine Martens, Fishers, Mink, and Ermine (all are of the Weasel family). All of these species are present on LAC property. They are not a menace, and are rarely on residential property. Foxes and Coyotes will come onto residential properties, and I do not advocate trapping or killing of these animals either!
ReplyDeleteBob