Boston missing pets - residents feel fisher cats are to blame

At an alarming rate, precious family pets in the Boston, Mass., area are disappearing or turning up dead. Many citizens believe that fisher cats are to blame. The wild, sharp-toothed, weasel-looking fisher cat has been identified in residential neighborhoods, and individuals are advised to be cautious.

Fisher cat assault in Boston

Many residents in the Boston area think the growing number of pets vanishing is due to fisher cat assaults. Reports of missing pets continue to rise, and families are warned to take precautionary measures to safeguard their animals and 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.

A Dover citizen name Linda Ribeiro who had lost two cats and a dog told reporters that she saw a fisher cat a couple weeks ago that was as large as a coffee table. ”Almost looked like a sea serpent or something,” said Ribeiro. “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 within the air.”

What is a fisher cat?

Fisher cats fall within the same family as weasels, minks, otters and skunks. Thin, long and low to the ground, these medium-sized fisher cats are predators that will devour almost anything they discover tasty. These creatures are among a few predators that will actually try to find and kill porcupines, as outlined by Wikipedia. All year long they remain productive and are quite possibly more active during twilight hours.

What you are able to do

Missing posters across the region are turning up as troubled pet owners try to locate their pets that have vanished without a trace. The fisher cat was nearly extinct, according to wildlife officials, but now it appears the species is making its way back in numbers and terrorizing the Boston area. Pet owners and families with children are advised to remove or secure anything that can attract the fisher cats. Keep pet food, pet rabbits and birds secure and remove trash or compost, as any fisher cat will “view domestic cats and rabbits as food and will prey to them when hunting.”