The Fisher Cat is a marten related to the family of weasels and is only found in North America. The Fisher Cat is known for being a ferocious predator and the sounds of a fisher cat have become notorious because they are similar to a child or a woman crying for help.
Fisher cats have been blamed for attacking and killing domestic cats in every area that they were spotted and due to this they have also been labeled as Fisher the cat killer. While Fisher Cats are ferocious enough to attack house cats and have done that, a lot of what is said about them is folklore and exaggerated. Fisher cats are definitely dangerous due to their predatory nature but they are probably made out to be more dangerous than they really are.
An interesting thing about Fisher cats is that they are one of the few predators of the porcupine and have developed a method to attack and kill porcupines. Due to this reason they are used for controlling porcupine population naturally.
Fisher Cats average at around 4 kilos and some of the large Fisher cat animals can grow to as much as 7 kilos.
Perhaps the question that most people ask is – how does a Fisher cat sound? The internet is sprinkled with Fisher cat sound clips and Fisher Cat photos and you can hear what people think a fisher cat sounds like below:
Loading ...The most striking thing about the Fisher cat audio is that it very closely resembles someone crying out for help and that is what freaks out most people. The fisher cat call in most cases is just a call for mating however they are known to make sounds just before or after hunting.
The Fisher Cat is a nocturnal animal and the most Fisher cat screams and Fisher Cat screeches can be heard at night. Since it is a nocturnal animal it hunts in the night and is not easily spotted in the day.
The Fisher Cat animals live and hunt alone and only socialize during their mating season. The females start breeding at the age of one while the male do not reach sexual age till they are two.
These days Fisher Cat news is mostly bad news, most of the times when they are featured in the news it is because they have caused concern to the human population either by way of attacking their pets or by their screams.
Most of these uproars are a mix of emotion and reality, while Fisher Cats are spotted in most of the incidents, the degree of damage done by them is probably a bit exaggerated.
Sounds exactly like a fox alarm call. People often say they see the Fisher, and then they hear that call, but there are no videos clearly showing a Fisher making the call and biologists have no evidence that they make such calls (in contrast there are lots of videos that clearly show a fox making that exact call). My guess is that fox are threatened by Fishers and tend to sound the alarm when they see them. People hear the call and assume the Fisher made it. It’s like when you hear the gray squirrel alarm call…look nearby to find a cat. The cat didn’t make the call, the squirrel did. But when I hear the squirrel alarm call I know there is a cat nearby.
That makes a lot of sense Teresa and ur probably correct. If fishers hunt foxes then ur theory would prove correct.
i have many run ins with the fisher they are a grate part of ct wildlife
what does ct mean
Connecticut
I BELIEVE I HEARD THIS SAME SCREECH IN QUINCY SUMMER 2011, IT WAS IN THE PATRIOT LEDGER NEWS PAPER THEY WERE NOTICED IN AREA MORE OFTEN. COMMENT ON 2/27 2012.
We live in The Flats in Winchester, MA, and we saw one walking along our fence in the back of our backyard one early evening in August 2010. When we saw it, my husband and I quickly moved our two small dogs off of the deck and into the house. If you’re a resident of Winchester and have small pets – DO NOT leave them outside without being outside with them at the exact same time. Not even alone for a second! I’m telling you, these fishercats are FAST and sneaky and will pop out – what seems like out of nowhere, and kill your pet when you’re not looking. If they grab your pet and you try to intervene, be prepared for them to take you on. Just avoid the stress altogether and stand near them and when they’re outside and get them back inside when you’re ready to go back inside (even if for a glass of water!).
Well, I had the pleasure(?) of hearing one 2 nights ago and last night, I actually witnessed the fisher cat just at the edge of the woods and trust me, the screeching was coming from this animal. My neighbor was witness to it. I’m hoping, since it’s been in my area for 2 nights, that tonight I’ll be able to try to capture it on video. It manages to dart across the back of yard, across to the neighbors but since we all have security lights, I might be able to see it on video. It was very clear last night as it scurried past my deck through to the wooded area in back of my neighbor.
I am not a fan of Fishers!! I live in Maine, and have unfortunately had run ins with them with my pets. Two of my cats were let out by accident, and at 2:30 a.m., we heard terrible screaming out in my back yard. A huge Fisher had one of my cats up a tree, and then when they both fell to the ground, it grabbed my cat by the throat, and would not let go. My son had to beat the damn thing off Runty with a broom, and then it turned and snarled at my son!! We took Runty to the vet that evening, (thank you Christine Welsh!!) but unfortunetly, he died two days later. Our other cat, Spooky, was never seen again as well. I hate them, and have no use for them. We did have a trapper come out, and set traps, and he caught the male, which weighed 28 pounds, so saying they “weigh between 8 and 10 pounds” is bullcrap!! We saw the damn monster ourselves, and it was as big as a dog. When I hear of someone shooting them, or trapping them, I want to celebrate.
Wish I had thought to record it! Maybe if I can hear it again. The sound I heard sounded different to the audio clip here, but similar. Almost like a monkey? Its 2am in Vermont. Possibly a fisher cat, maybe a fox? So strange. Almost birdlike.
I live in Hope, RI. I have never saw a fisher cat or heard of 1 b4 2day. My pregnant cat Peekaboo disappeared almost a month ago. She was at the end of her pregnancy. She never stayed out over night. A week after she disappeared, my sisters kitten Dempsey went out and never came back. I’m heart broken over the loss of our pets and I pray everyday that they come home but I’m starting to think a fisher cat got their claws on them :’(. My mom was saying that their claws and teeth are razor sharp and that a fisher cat cut her friend Tommys dogs head off without a problem. I couldn’t believe it. I lived here my whole life, well most of it and never once saw a fisher cat smh idk ugly creature though. The fisher cat looks like a bear and a ferret mix. It has the face of a ferret and the body of a bear. I think I heard that cry before. Maybe I was around a fisher cat and didnt see it? Idk or maybe it was a fox like Teresa said. Idk I just want our cats back :’(
thats a pretty scary noise. i would hate to hear that noise in my backyard.
I have heard that exact same sound here in Arkansas, and I am in a very habited area. No one could tell me what it was…someone said Bobcat, and someone said Cougar, but I researched each one and neither makes the same sound. It has to be a Fisher Cat…and we have weasels down at the lake here, which is all around us, so I wouldn’t be surprised. I would like to see it just to know I was right, but we have cats and dogs all around here, and I wouldn’t want my pets to go missing.
We have a Fisher Cat in North Carolina. Has anyone else in NC ever seen or heard one?
That doesn’t really sound like a Fisher as much as it sounds like a fox call. Fishers tend to make one screech, usually right before or after a kill. It’s sortof difficult to describe the sound…it starts out at a lower pitch and then raises to a high-pitched shriek that sounds like a woman or a child screaming, “wwwaaaAAAAAAA!!!!” that lasts for about two beats. I live in the woods and they hunt right outside my house (usually underneath my window at around 3am). They’re vicious. I’ve heard them raiding bird’s nests, attacking pets whose owners are either uninformed or don’t care enough about them to keep them inside, killing rabbits, squirrels, cats, etc. I mean, they’ve got to eat too, but it’s heart-wrenching to hear it happening to a pet who should have been kept inside. Fishers are pretty wild.
Sounds more like a fox bark to me.
I have heard this sound at my home in Canterbury, Ct for several nights now. It sounds like a fox as well, so how can we really differentiate between the two?
I heard a weird sound when we were coming home two nights ago. Our golden ran out into our wooded barking and the scream was repeated 4 or 5 times. I had never heard anything like it. My wife was telling a friend about it and she said there had been a Fisher in her neighborhood. I Googled Fisher and listened to a recording. No doubt it was a Fisher. Scary as hell. We are raising chicks and I’m concerned that iit might tear the coop down. I have installed anti-critter flashing red lights and wonder if they will keep it away.
There are fisher cats in brooklyn,ct. I found a dead fox in my back yard on 4/8/2012.
I believe it was a fisher cat since they were seen and heard in this area.
We lost 11 of 13 year-old hens to a fisher last night. Make certain your coop is shut tight. Mine wasn’t. Found only (!) 5 decapitated hens, so we hope some (one?) will come out of hiding this morning. Take care…
In NK RI the fisher screams woke me up last night at 4am it was one of the scarriest sounds I’ve heard, been here 20 years first we ever heard one. In north kingstown