Weasel-like creature once extinct in Pennsylvania spotted again on Westmoreland County trail cam

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Over the summer, a weasel-like creature once extinct in Pennsylvania was caught on a trail camera in Westmoreland County. Now the camera operator says the rare sighting "wasn't a fluke" — the secretive little critter appears to have a home in the Murrysville area.

PixCams, which runs livestream nature webcams, said the same camera caught another 10 photos of the fisher over four different occasions. It's a rare sight for the area, but in a Facebook post on Saturday, PixCams says it suggests that the fisher is living not too far from where the camera is placed.

"The excitement level is, it's just rare. People just never see this. And it's also something that's just very elusive. Like if you come out, it will just run out and hide. So, the chance of people seeing this without the technology is just very minimal," said Bill Powers with PixCams. 

When the fisher was originally captured on camera, PixCams said they believed the one they recorded was around 36 inches long. Fishers are the second largest member of the weasel family in Pennsylvania. Males can grow up to 48 inches long, the Pennsylvania Game Commission says.     

Fishers weren't always around Penn's Woods. They were extirpated in Pennsylvania sometime around the nineteenth century, though the state Game Commission says it's hard to pinpoint exactly when because the creatures are so secretive and records are scarce. 

The Game Commission says it's believed fishers were distributed throughout most of the state before intensive deforestation during the nineteenth century. Historical accounts also suggest that populations initially began to decline in southwestern Pennsylvania due to early colonial development. 

The state's fisher population today is the result of natural expansion from adjacent states in the 70s and reintroduction programs in the 90s. 

"I think this just shows the biodiversity of western Pennsylvania," Powers said. "It's fantastic. You know, we're seeing species we haven't seen since 10, 20 years ago. We're seeing coyotes come back. We got our first bobcat in Murrysville two or three weeks ago." 

Nowadays, the Game Commission says fisher populations are well established and it has a management plan to make sure the species stays in Pennsylvania.