You should view the YouTube video "fisher bullied by cat"
A cat out back stalks a fisher, who bolts from a tree and runs for his life with the cat in hot pursuit. Cat fights must be filmed and watched in slow motion to see the speed at which they strike each other. Even a large fisher would sustain much facial damage, probable eye damage. Just not worth it unless the fisher is fighting for its life.
Above is a youtube where a fisher is in a brawl with a fox. Fisher survives, breaks away and runs.
Rich, they routinely take down lynx and porcupine. I'm pretty sure a house cat is not as dangerous as a lynx. There are many situational encounters where a fisher might avoid a fight, but if the fisher wanted to take out a house cat, Tom is a goner. That video of the fox is one where the fox got lucky that the human filming the event got close enough that the Fisher let go and climbed a tree.
Watched the cat video. If that's a fisher it is a juvenile. And, the cat's lucky it didn't catch up to it.
"Fishers are generalist predators. Although their primary prey is
snowshoe hares and
porcupines, they are also known to supplement their diet with insects, nuts, berries, and mushrooms. Since they are solitary hunters, their choice of prey is limited by their size. Analyses of stomach contents and scat have found evidence of birds, small mammals, and even deer—the latter two indicating that they are not averse to eating
carrion. Fishers have been seen to feed on deer carcasses. While the behavior is not common, fishers have been known to kill larger animals, such as
wild turkey,
bobcat (although, in most cases, confrontations tend to be dominated by the cat, that frequently prey on them and in fact is one of their main predators) and
Canada lynx.
[1][2][3] Researchers in
Maine have found "about a dozen" cases of confirmed fisher predation on
Canada lynx, and several more suspected cases, in a four township area of Maine.
[4] According to
Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife wildlife biologist Scott McClellan, the fishers involved in these kills attacked lynx bedded down in snowstorms with a quick "powerful grip" bite to the lynx's neck.
[4] Signs of struggle indicated that some lynx attempted to defend themselves but McClellan states that "the fishers would finish the cats off pretty quickly. 'There was some struggle certainly, but it didn’t appear to last very long. There were some broken branches, tufts of fur, and claw marks where the lynx was trying to get away.'
[4] The McClellan study in
The Journal of Wildlife Management documents 14 fisher-caused mortalities of Canada lynx from 1999 to 2011 in northern Maine, and found that predation was the leading source of mortality of lynx in the study area (18 deaths, 14 by fisher).
[5]
Fishers are one of the few predators that seek out and kill porcupines. [6
]"
-wikipedia
- "Ecological Characteristics of Fishers in the Southern Oregon Cascade Range" (PDF). USDA Forest Service – Pacific Northwest Research Station 2006.
- ^ Vashon, Jennifer; Vashon, Adam; Crowley, Shannon. "Partnership for Lynx Conservation in Main December 2001 – December 2002 Field Report" (PDF). Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. p. 9.
- ^ Richardson, John (March 17, 2010). "Researchers collect data to track health of, threats to Canada lynx". The Portland Press Herald. Pressherald.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2012
- Joshua Rapp Learn (September 28, 2018). "Small Weasel-Like Animals Are Taking Down Big Cats". National Geographic. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
- ^ McLellan, Scott R.; Vashon, Jennifer H.; Johnson, Erica L.; Crowley, Shannon M.; Vashon, Adam D. (2018). "Fisher predation on Canada lynx in the Northeastern United States". Journal of Wildlife Management. 82 (8): 1775–8. doi:10.1002/jwmg.21538.
- Doyle, Brian (March 6, 2006). "Fishering". High Country News. Retrieved April 28, 2010.