And for those who believe the story was describing Big Foot have not heard of a Fisher Cat. The article description was the same as heard by myself and 4 neighbors when I live in Atkinson a few years back. After hearing the blood curdling scream of what myself and neighbors thought was a woman in distress all of us were on our decks looking into the woods to find the "woman in distress". We later we informed that this had been a Fisher Cat.
The Fisher Cat is know to eat small animals and is quite vicious. They also have been known to feast on a cat or small dog too.
http://home.mcn.net/~wtu/fisher.html