In the News
From the December 31, 2004 Issue of The Cape Codder
Naturalist Peter Trull has spent more than a decade studying the Eastern coyote hoping to educate away some of the fear residents have of the animal that is now an established Cape resident.
"The unknown part of wildness and the lack of understanding of wildness is what creates fear in people," said Trull.
He has been somewhat successful, but hopes for better results by getting a jump on the Cape's next big predator - the fisher.
"We are with fishers on Cape Cod exactly where we were 15 years ago with coyotes," he said. "It's an animal that is new to Cape Cod and I don't think it was here historically."
Ironically, when he began his work studying the coyote so many years ago, and seeing the reaction of people to the interloper, he thought to himself, "Well, wait until the fisher gets here. It was kind of a tongue-in-cheek statement."
That time may have come. Although there is no confirmation, there has been a number of unsubstantiated sightings and Trull himself has seen one in the area of Lower Road in Brewster.
"They are beautiful and sleek with very dark brown fur that almost appears black," he said of the animal.
Trull said the woods of Brewster with its ponds seems to be the "hot spot" for the mammal.
He has been looking for the animal, which is a member of the weasel family, for the past three years and has just received a mini-education grant from Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank to involve the students at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, where he is a teacher, in his search.
"I want to start a little biology club," he said.
His team of students, who will have to sign up for the after-school activity, will likely do a lot of legwork (or arm work) researching the animal before they hit the woods.
The grant funds have given Trull enough money to purchase a motion detector camera, as well as materials to build "cubbies," which will record footprints of animals.
And if they don't get a snapshot of a fisher?
"We'll probably get a lot of really cool pictures of a lot of really cool animals," Trull said.
Trull explained that very few people on the Cape know what a fisher is. In fact, when he mentions his work, they say, 'Oh, you like birds.'"
But a fisher is not a bird, it may eat them - it's particularly fond of poultry - but a member of the weasel family. It spends its time in deep woods and dens in trees, but often hunts animals, including squirrels, on the ground.
Trull said if you are familiar with the lore of a wolverine, the fisher is second on the totem pole of tenacious. They snarl.
"It is a pretty tenacious type of predator; it's a business animal, that is for sure. It's not a fuzzball," he said.
Fishers, like coyotes, will also eat cats. "They are cat eaters for sure," he said.
But that is where the comparison ends. Not only are fishers much smaller - the males are about 12 pounds and 30 inches to the tip of their fox-like tail - but they are very secretive.
He said it is very likely that people won't see them.
"How many people see mink on the Cape, and yet we have mink on the Cape," he said.
The fisher was virtually extinct in the state by the 1960s because agricultural land had all but disappeared. But as the woods came back, so did the fisher. Its range has gradually expanded from the North Woods in Maine down to the Cape.
Trull, who calls the fisher a "really cool" animal, said the more predators the better because it creates a balanced ecosystem.
"Predators don't mean they attack people," he said. "People have a weird analogy that relates predators to leg biting."
And that's not the case, Trull said.
If people think they see a fisher, they are encouraged to e-mail Trull at petrull (at) comcast.net.
Naturalist says new predator
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Naturalist Peter Trull has spent more than a decade studying the Eastern coyote hoping to educate away some of the fear residents have of the animal that is now an established Cape resident.
"The unknown part of wildness and the lack of understanding of wildness is what creates fear in people," said Trull.
He has been somewhat successful, but hopes for better results by getting a jump on the Cape's next big predator - the fisher.
"We are with fishers on Cape Cod exactly where we were 15 years ago with coyotes," he said. "It's an animal that is new to Cape Cod and I don't think it was here historically."
Ironically, when he began his work studying the coyote so many years ago, and seeing the reaction of people to the interloper, he thought to himself, "Well, wait until the fisher gets here. It was kind of a tongue-in-cheek statement."
That time may have come. Although there is no confirmation, there has been a number of unsubstantiated sightings and Trull himself has seen one in the area of Lower Road in Brewster.
"They are beautiful and sleek with very dark brown fur that almost appears black," he said of the animal.
Trull said the woods of Brewster with its ponds seems to be the "hot spot" for the mammal.
He has been looking for the animal, which is a member of the weasel family, for the past three years and has just received a mini-education grant from Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank to involve the students at Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, where he is a teacher, in his search.
"I want to start a little biology club," he said.
His team of students, who will have to sign up for the after-school activity, will likely do a lot of legwork (or arm work) researching the animal before they hit the woods.
The grant funds have given Trull enough money to purchase a motion detector camera, as well as materials to build "cubbies," which will record footprints of animals.
And if they don't get a snapshot of a fisher?
"We'll probably get a lot of really cool pictures of a lot of really cool animals," Trull said.
Trull explained that very few people on the Cape know what a fisher is. In fact, when he mentions his work, they say, 'Oh, you like birds.'"
But a fisher is not a bird, it may eat them - it's particularly fond of poultry - but a member of the weasel family. It spends its time in deep woods and dens in trees, but often hunts animals, including squirrels, on the ground.
Trull said if you are familiar with the lore of a wolverine, the fisher is second on the totem pole of tenacious. They snarl.
"It is a pretty tenacious type of predator; it's a business animal, that is for sure. It's not a fuzzball," he said.
Fishers, like coyotes, will also eat cats. "They are cat eaters for sure," he said.
But that is where the comparison ends. Not only are fishers much smaller - the males are about 12 pounds and 30 inches to the tip of their fox-like tail - but they are very secretive.
He said it is very likely that people won't see them.
"How many people see mink on the Cape, and yet we have mink on the Cape," he said.
The fisher was virtually extinct in the state by the 1960s because agricultural land had all but disappeared. But as the woods came back, so did the fisher. Its range has gradually expanded from the North Woods in Maine down to the Cape.
Trull, who calls the fisher a "really cool" animal, said the more predators the better because it creates a balanced ecosystem.
"Predators don't mean they attack people," he said. "People have a weird analogy that relates predators to leg biting."
And that's not the case, Trull said.
If people think they see a fisher, they are encouraged to e-mail Trull at petrull (at) comcast.net.