Boston residents say fisher cats are to blame for missing pets

Missing pet posters are turning up everywhere as numerous pet owners struggle to find their missing pets. (Photo: NCinDC/Flickr/CC BY-ND)

Reports of beloved family pets vanishing and turning up dead are flooding in at an alarming rate in Boston, Mass. Many families in the local area believe fisher cats are to blame. More than a few people claim to have seen the wild, sharp-toothed, weasel-looking fisher cat in residential neighborhoods, and residents are advised to take caution.

Fisher cat attack in Boston

Boston residents believe the high number of pets disappearing in the area is due to fisher cat attacks. Reports of missing pets in the local area are skyrocketing, and people are warned to take extra precaution to protect their pets and even small children. Numerous residents say that fisher cats have been spotted in people’s back yards, in fences and on back porches — right out in broad daylight. A man in Andover even captured video clips of a fisher cat spotted in a tree.

Linda Ribeiro, a Dover resident who has lost two cats and a dog, said she saw a fisher cat two weeks ago that was as big as a coffee table. “Almost looked like a sea serpent or something,” she said. “The head was up and then it came down to short front legs and then the back goes up and arches and then this long tail that’s stuck up in the air.”

What is a fisher cat?

Fisher cats fall in the same family as weasels, minks, otters and skunks. Long, thin and low to the ground, the medium-sized fisher cat is a predator that will eat just about anything it can find. According to Wikipedia, fisher cats are one of the few predators that look for and kill porcupines. They are active all year long and are most lively during twilight, in dawn and dusk hours of the day.

What to do

Missing posters are turning up everywhere across the region as despaired pet owners search for animals that have disappeared recently. According to wildlife officials, the fisher cat was nearly extinct not too long ago, but it appears the species has bounced back in the Boston area. Families and pet owners are advised to secure or remove anything that may attract fisher cats. Remove garbage and compost and keep pet food, pet rabbits and birds secure, as the fisher cats “view domestic cats and rabbits as food and will prey on them when hunting.”