Pacific fishers returns to historic range in Washington

[TexasTowelie]

In this Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, photo, a Pacific fisher takes off running after being released into a forest at Mount Rainier National Park. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, Wash. – The elusive weasel-like mammal poked its head out of the wooden crate, glanced around and quickly darted into the thick forest of Mount Rainier National Park – returning to a landscape where it had been missing for seven decades.

One by one, 10 Pacific fishers that had been trapped in British Columbia were set free at the park south of Seattle as part of a multiyear effort to reintroduce the native species to its historic range.

A large crowd gathered Friday to herald the return of the dark-brown member of the weasel family with its lush fur and bushy tail. They cheered, clapped and hooted, and First Nations and American Indian tribal members sang and drummed, as each crate door was lifted and a fisher streaked out of sight across the snowy ground.

“We’re correcting something that we mismanaged a long time ago before we knew enough to manage wildlife populations,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a biologist with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Now we can fix that because we know how to. We know we’ve got a lot of habitat here. All we were missing were the fishers.”

Read more: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2016/dec/04/pacific-fishers-returns-to-historic-range-in-washi/

[Hoyt]

1. Good luck little buddies, may you mate often.

[TexasTowelie]

2. They are kind of cute, aren't they?

Hopefully a sizable population will build up again.

[Hoyt]

3. They definitely are. Kind of reminds me of a cat I had.