Fishers are mid-sized forest carnivores that were extirpated from much of their eastern North American range by trapping and habitat loss. Reintroduction programmes have achieved notable successes with welfare lessons.
Fisher reintroduction programmes have provided important lessons in welfare-conscious translocation. Animals must be sourced from populations with similar habitat types, health screened, and released in areas with adequate prey and minimal persecution risk. The ongoing threat from rodenticide secondary poisoning represents a significant welfare concern for recovered populations. Campaigns to restrict broadcast use of anticoagulant rodenticides in forests directly benefit fisher welfare and that of other carnivores and raptors exposed to poisoned prey.