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Name This Animal

What is this blood-curdling screaming sound?

10 years ago

Every so often we are awakened in the wee hours of the night by what sounds like two animals fighting/chasing each other in the small woods abutting our weekend cottage on Long Island. The sound is extremely loud and sounds very much like one of the animals, likely a cat, attacking and killing the other, which is extremely disturbing, to say the least. (Because we've heard this sound before, most recently last weekend, we assume that no animals have actually been hurt.) Three of us have heard it now and all three of us have independently described the sound as that of a cat being skinned alive. (It does NOT sound like a baby or woman being murdered or other human sound.) I did a little research and can rule out fisher cats, peacocks, owls, and foxes -- none of these replicate the prolonged, strangled screaming sound that we're hearing, nor do any of these seem loud enough to be what we're hearing. Any ideas what this might be? The woods aren't large so I think we can also rule out any sort of bobcat or mountain lion. The only animals we regularly see are deer, squirrels, raccoons, and turtles, and to my knowledge none of them make a blood-curdling, cat-being-skinned screaming sound like this. Help!!

Featured Answer

User

10 years ago

I vote for banshees.

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Comments (12)

yepperbepper
10 years ago
Mating season? Cats being romantic generally sounds like a cat being roasted alive. We have a handful of ferals here and when they are mating, it sounds awful. imho
User
10 years ago
Raccoons can have long shrieking fights.

and foxes scream
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User
10 years ago
Probably just feral/house cats fighting? or mating as pointed out above.
dees_1
10 years ago
Rabbits scream too......blood curling sound when they're caught by a predator.
Embothrium
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Raccoons make this strange mechanical sounding clatter - I wouldn't call it a scream. Cats I'd expect you would recognize the sounds of, as these popular pet animals are so familiar.
tracey3345
Original Author
10 years ago
I have now watched more nature videos than you can shake stick at, and I think I have to conclude that it's either fighting cats or fighting raccoons.

Or, you know, banshees! ;)
LuckyGardens
10 years ago
Raccoon is my bet, they make some pretty weird noises!
Olychick
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
My bet is foxes. We have them in my neighborhood and oh, my, the sounds you described are identical to what they sound like. It's unnerving and can sometimes go on for hours. I think I heard that it is a territorial thing; too early for mating for a spring birth. I searched the internet until I found the sounds so I could figure out what they were and these are the closest I found....

The guy talking in the first one says he doesn't know what it is, but in his post he writes that he found out it's a red fox.
Fox calls on YouTube
You Tube fox screaming

eta: I just found this one that is pretty thorough and informative but the guy is really annoying...
Lots more fox sounds
sicco1932
10 years ago
Ah, Olychick, that would be my wager also. The female red fox is the "screamer" as the male "huffs". The sound of a fox scream will chill you to the bone, raising the hair on your neck!
summersrhythm_z6a
10 years ago
Fisher cat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrvdzCGjbzw
HU-503517675
4 years ago
I was in the woods in Florida at about 3am it was like all hell broke loose, it sounded exactly like a cat screaming as it was being ripped apart

It was extremely loud. It the came near my tent and gave off a low growl. As I had no weapons decided to just stay in the tent.

There are a number of raccoons in the area plus coyotes. I'm guessing it was a raccoon.

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