Fisher Cat Screech – Information On The FisherCat Noise
What does a Fisher Cat Screech Sound Like?
If you are hearing a Fisher cat’s screech for the first time and you have not been at your wit’s end, you are a really brave person. Most people who hear a fisher cat screech for the first time get their heart pounding and pray that they never hear a Fisher cat scream again.
The fact that the Fisher cat is a nocturnal animal makes the screech even more terrifying. The screech itself sounds like a woman or a child screaming at a high pitch and calling out for help. In fact there have been several cases where people who hear Fisher cat sounds for the first time think it is a lady or a child calling out for help and end up calling the police.
Fisher cats are found in forests and suburban areas and generally these areas are secluded in the night which makes the Fisher cat screech even more horrifying. Even after hearing a Fisher cat cry for several days it is difficult to come to terms with the Fisher cat noise, especially for children who get scared of these noises every time.
You can find Fisher cat audio on the web but generally these are recorded by people around their backyards and it is their best judgment of the sounds of a Fisher cat.
For instance, hear this Fisher cat audio
and you can hear a sound like a baby’s yell. There is usually some debate on whether the sound is authentic or not but looking at the comments you can make out whether something has a high degree of being an actual fisher cat audio or just some birds in the woods.
The sound in this video seems pretty close to the actual thing based on the comparison with other sounds of a Fisher cat and of course hearing the real thing. Since Fisher cats are nocturnal and stay in the woods it is extremely difficult to find an audio and video which captures the screams of the fisher cat at the same time.
The overarching characteristic of the sounds of Fisher cat is its similarity to the human shriek. People have often described Fisher cat sounds to a terrified shriek by someone who is about to be run down by a truck, a woman yelling out for help at the top of her voice or a baby’s high pitched screaming.
Some people who had neighbors with children have actually gone down to the neighbor’s house to check whether it were the kids who were crying the entire night and all was well.
If you live near the woods or in a forested area don’t be alarmed at hearing this high pitched shriek much like a child shrieking, however keep in mind that Fisher Cats are ferocious predators and can attack you and be very careful if you have small pets. Pets like cats have known to be prime target of this fierce Fisher cat predator and there have been several cases of reported injuries to pet cats by owners.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Hi – i searched to hear the sound of a Fisher cat because i have heard this same eerie sound in my backyard several times. My dogs went crazy and so did i. . . sometimes it was sooo very close as to be right outside my window.
However, i have also listened to posted FOX screams and those sound very much the same and we certainly have foxes too. What’s up with that?
Please let me know the difference, if any. Thanks. Whatever this creature is outside my house it has decimated my livestock including our local squirrel population!
February 6th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Hi, I just heard the most awful hair raising screams/screeches coming from the woods. My dog was barking like crazy as it continued over the course of a few minutes. I was trying to explain it; something like an extremely loud screaming bird… Having listened to the audio, that is exactly what I heard, a fishercat. They have been seen around here over the last couple of years and have left a trail of dead cats (one being mine). Are they territorial, or will this one possibly move on?
March 9th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
That cry is a fox…surprisingly, baby fox seperated from their family have a very loud cry for a little animal….really carries at night. This spring I followed similar cries early in the Am that led me too a young fox pup who wandered away from his den. Hell of a racket for a 2 lb monster. Adults have a similar call aling with a wide range of other calls, barks, and yips.
May 1st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I get out of work at 2:30am and will sit in my cellar to unwind. Well a couple of weeks ago I could here that exact noise and it sounded like it was right outside the cellar door. I grabbed my, million candle, flash light to take a look into the woods. That night I did not see anything, but after a couple of minutes listeneing to that noise, and my heart beat (LOL), it sounded like it flew, as in fly, away. Here I am thinking it is a prehistoric Pterodactyl that has come back. After hereing this audio and finding out it is a land animal the sound I heard was it running away (thank God).
Well last night my wife heard the same cry right at dusk. The dog was facing the woods and not doing anything but watch. When my wife opened the door the dog came running with the cat in tow. She grabbed my light and did see the reflection of the eyes very close to the edge of te woods. After a few more minutes it turned and ran into the woods with alot of noise coming from the forest’s floor debris it was stepping on.
Thanks for sharing that audio and I will see if it comes back and try and get my own audio to share, hopefuly a video also.
Tom
May 12th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
i heard this sound the other night and i thought it was a bird. the scary thing is every time i turned on my light it would run right to it. my neighbors said it was a fox though.
May 24th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
ohmigosh – you should hear what I hear…. (sounds like a holiday song?) – NOPE – it scares the crap out of me – it began 4 months ago – and has continued… the little beast is getting more and more daring – in fact – we can hear it as it arrives beneath our window from the sand pits behind the house… I cannot stand it – in fact – have now begun to plug in the MAG flashlights because I am going to find that fisher cat and …… help?!?
May 24th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Well, I find it interesting that the poster above me mentions a sand pit because we too have a sand pit (at a distance, but not far) from our home… we live in New England, very wooded location and over the past week & a half we have been hearing these horrific shrill screams. Makes my heart stop! I have cats that enjoy being out doors and try as I might to get them in at dusk, they have different ideas…
Up until that noise starts in, then I abruptly run for the door, open it just as my cats either come bolting in or I see them frozen in fear out by our picnic table.
So far what ever it is, I’ve managed to ‘chase it off’, the past three times I’ve heard it. I can’t tell if it’s a fisher cat or a fox… if it’s a fox and if the video on youtube is correct, then the sound we are hearing is that of an alarm call…
Our neighbor up the way lost three rabbits to a fisher cat and she was devistated… I have a rabbit too and dread the very idea of a fisher cat messing with any one of my beloved pets.
I wonder if Fish & Wildlife might be willing to assist us?
Over the next couple of days, I’ll try to record the sounds we here and post it to youtube… maybe then someone can confirm for us, what it is exactly that I’m hearing.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
“we hear”… not (we here)… sorry for the typo.
June 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
last wednesday night i heard the high pitched screeches and it went on from 2-5 am and i was wondering if they will move to a new area or stay in my woods and about a month ago my sister was in the woods with her friend and she saw a dark figure jump up and run and as she describes it it made the same sound as the video will the fisher stay in my woods or move?
June 8th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Well I’ve never heard a fisher cat,I may have seen one today though,I wasn’t wearing my glasses so I’m not sure,anyway this sounds like a fox to me,a couple weeks ago I startled one and it made the exact sound as this and seemed to want me to follow it,turns out I was ten feet from its den,which had at least one pup in it.So I say fox.
July 6th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
We have a sand pit behind our house in the new england area as well and herd this noise. It was at dusk so i dont know if that makes a difference but it sounded like this clip.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
my friend and i were sitting in our bush fort, and all of the sudden we heard a noise that sounded exactly like a crow. but the weird thing was that it was coming closer. out of nowhere we heard a second noise. we both thought that it was a crow. out of nowhere we saw two animals about 3 feet long with a dark coat about 7-8 lbs each. i yelled “get up, get up, get up”. my friend asked “why,why why?”. and i answereed that it was a fisher. so we both jumperd up onto our fort and we both felt like our hearts were going to pop out of our chests. my friend thought that they were racoons, but we both weren’t sure what it was. so we went online and looked up a picture of a fisher and then we were sure that the two animals that we saw were fishers. the noise we heard was exactly the same as the noise in this clip.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
We live in Acton, MA, and we have seen fishers on our property a couple of times, but tonight at 9:00 we heard its screech…it sounded just like the recording on this webpage…talk about freaking out the cats. One ran upstairs and hid. I went outside to check on the chickens and they were all awake and freaked out in their coop.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
This is exactly what I have heard at my house in midcoast maine. I have lost about 5 cats in 8 years.
In the summertime, the fishers come out and I have actually seen the fisher as it is making that sound in my back yard. I have also seen it chasing after my current cat last summer, I chased into the woods at 2:30 am to try and scare it away. I tried to explain to family and friends what it sounded like. A little research brought me to your page.
thank you for posting it!
August 9th, 2009 at 8:49 am
We have woods all around us in MA and have heard this screeching sound many times late at night. It sounds very similar to this audio only louder and perhaps at a higher pitch. It is eerie to say the least.
August 14th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Yep the other day I heard this noise up over yonder and just had to see what was making all the ruckus. So i grabbed the ol’ 20 gauge and saw this damn brown beaver lookin’ like thing. Shot him up and actually cooked him up real nice for some good eatings.
August 28th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
This is the same horrible sound we’ve heard at our house, twice. It was very scary, and I almost did call the police. We live in a rural area in South Central Pennsylvania. I’ve lived near woods most of my life from North Carolina to New York, but I’ve never heard anything like this till this year. It’s a very disturbing thing to hear, and you will never forget it. Now at least, I know what it was–hope to never hear it again.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
This sound is of a fox.. Many live nearby and sometimes one calls like this in broad daylight.
It says in Wiki that the awful, disturbing cry of the Fisher Cat may be a myth. It is odd that no definitive sound recording of their vocalizations is on the internet..
This is a typical red fox call.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-kP3_t8OOM
This is the sound of a distressed rabbit.
http://www.rmvh.com/Movies/VarmintSafariJack.mp3
Rabbits caught by predators cry out very loudly and it is an awful noise that might be described as “like a baby being murdered or a woman screaming”.
Just saying.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
This morning at 7 a.m. I was walking through my brother’s yard and I heard noise in the bush along his stonewall. To my surprise a big beautiful fisher cat stood on the wall looking at me. My heart was pounding in excitement as he walked toward me. I was not afraid and was slowly trying to get my camera out to take a picture but before I could he sniffed the air near me and ran off into the woods. We have heard the cries in the woods at night and I have gotten pictures on my game cameras of t it. I live in Wareham, Mass.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
i heard a strange sound almost like a dying large bird…. it really freaked me out because it was coming from my neighbors yard.i don’t live near woods so i don’t know if it was a fisher.anyoe got anouther idea of what it could be?
January 18th, 2010 at 6:57 am
THT JUS HAPPEND TO ME ROGHT AT THIS MOMENT I CALLED THE COPS I NVR HEARD A CAT MAKE THT KIND OF POLICE NOW I FEEL SILLY BUT I HAPPY TO KNO THT IT WASNT A BABY
MY HEART WAS POUNDING AFTER HEARING THT NOISE
January 18th, 2010 at 6:59 am
RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT SRRY…
January 18th, 2010 at 7:01 am
THT JUS HAPPEND TO ME RIGHT AT THIS MOMENT I CALLED THE POLICE I NVR HEARD A CAT MAKE THT KIND OF SOUND NOW I FEEL SILLY BUT I HAPPY TO KNO THT IT WASNT A BABY
MY HEART WAS POUNDING AFTER HEARING THT NOISE