Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Killed By Coyotes - First Fatal Coyote Attack - National Geo. TV

 UPDATE

One comment says they "have some doubts" about this.

The event actually occurred in October of 2009. The LA Times covered the story,
Musician Taylor Mitchell dies after coyote attack while hiking, and here is an excerpt fromWikipedia:


On October 27, 2009 Mitchell was hiking alone during the afternoon on the Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia. During her hike, she was attacked by three[10] coyotes. During the attack, a group of four other hikers came across the scene, managed to scare the remaining coyote[10] away and called 911. When emergency crews arrived, she was taken to a hospital in Cheticamp and then airlifted to Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax in critical condition. She died overnight.[1]
An officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) later shot a coyote in the park though the officer could not find the carcass. In the evening, park staff located another coyote and killed it, though there were no signs on its carcass that it had been shot. It is estimated that there were five or six coyotes in that area of the park.[1] Eventually, a total of six coyotes were killed following the attack, but only three could be conclusively linked with the attack.[10]
In an interview with The Gazette, Brad White, a coyote expert at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. said they might have been coyote-wolf hybrids. However, Don Anderson a biologist with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources said he's seen no reason to suspect the animals were coyote-wolf crosses. Don Anderson noted there are no wolves in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Dr. Brent Patterson of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, however, concludes there is sufficient physical evidence that these coyotes were so-called "Eastern Coyotes". Eastern Coyotes of the Canadian provinces, are distant hybrids of Canadian wolves and coyotes that go back generations when the Western Coyotes of the North American Plains regions of the Unites States, migrated to the Ontario region, and interbred with native wolves. This possibly instilled the dominance and aggressive behaviours displayed by the Cape Breton coyotes.[11] Stan Gehrt, a coyote expert at Ohio State University's school of environment and natural resources suggested that the coyotes were rabid.[12] This theory however, was proved to be invalid through post mortem examination conducted at the University of Prince Edward Island, of the six exterminated coyotes, three of which could be directly linked to the attack.
Bob Bancroft, a Nova Scotia wildlife biologist, suggested that the coyotes were inexperienced hunters - hungry and desperate yearlings - and that their predatory instinct was triggered by the singer fleeing instead of standing her ground.[13] In The Gazette, Stan Gehrt thought this might be why the coyotes attacked: "Most canids (coyotes, foxes, and wolves) will attack prey that begin to run away from them. Maybe that's what she did. Unfortunately, there are no witnesses." [12]
Mitchell was only the second fatal coyote attack on a human ever recorded in North America.[14] The first occurred in the United States[15] in August 1981, when 3-year-old Kelly Keen was attacked by a coyote outside her home in Glendale, California, United States.[16]

  1. ^ a b c "Coyotes kill Toronto singer in Cape Breton". CBC.ca. 2009-10-28. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/10/28/ns-coyote-attack-died.html. Retrieved 2009-10-29. 
  2. ^ "CDbabay.com profile". http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/TaylorMitchell1. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 
  3. ^ a b iTunes Store. "For Your Consideration". http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/taylor-mitchell/id340252571. Retrieved 2009-12-08. 
  4. ^ a b "Cape Breton coyote attack kills touring folk singer". CTV.ca. 2009-10-28. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091028/coyote_attack_091028/20091028. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  5. ^ a b c Aulakh, Raveena (2009-10-28). "Toronto singer killed by coyotes". The Star. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/717207--toronto-singer-killed-by-coyotes. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  6. ^ "Toronto singer killed by coyotes". The Globe and Mail. 2009-10-28. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto-singer-killed-by-coyotes/article1341376/. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  7. ^ Boles, Benjamin (March 17-14, 2009). "Disc Review: Taylor Mitchell - For Your Consideration (Independent)". NOW Toronto. http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/discs.cfm?content=168567. Retrieved 2009-10-29. 
  8. ^ "Coyotes kill Toronto singer". London Free Press. 2009-10-28. http://www.lfpress.com/news/canada/2009/10/28/11551416.html. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  9. ^ "Coyote attack silences emerging Toronto talent". CBC.ca. 2009-10-28. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/10/28/singer-mitchell-coyote-reaction.html. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  10. ^ a b c "Killed by Coyotes". National Geographic. 2011-02-18. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/killed-by-coyotes-5169/Overview#tab-Overview. 
  11. ^ "Killed by Coyotes?". 18 February 2011. http://natgeotv.com/uk/killed-by-coyotes. Retrieved 3 January 2012. 
  12. ^ a b "Coyote attacks on humans extremely rare: Experts". The Gazette. 2009-10-28. http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Coyote+attacks+humans+extremely+rare+Experts/2156288/story.html. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  13. ^ Alison Auld, Cape Breton News: Coyotes kill teen folk singer in Cape Breton park (local comments by local readers), last updated at 12:10 AM on 29/10/2009
  14. ^ "Coyotes kill woman in Cape Breton". CBC News. 2009-10-29. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/10/28/ns-coyote-attack-died.html. Retrieved 2009-10-28. 
  15. ^ Coyote Attacks on Children
  16. ^ A History of Urban Coyote Problems, Robert M. Tim & Rex O. Baker, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2007


Killed By Coyotes explores the tragic story of a talented young folk singer, Taylor Mitchell, who was killed by coyotes as she hiked alone in a Canadian national park. It's the first fatal coyote attack on an adult human ever recorded, and it shocked not only the surrounding community but coyote experts as well. Highly intelligent and generally timid around people, coyotes have traditionally not been considered a threat to human communities.
But are they becoming more habituated to us and are they losing their fear of us? In the wake of the attack, scientists, police and park rangers try to develop a clear picture of what happened - and why. And with coyote numbers increasing throughout North America, Killed By Coyotes examines how humans and coyotes co-exist.  Nat Geo

Wednesday 18 January at 10:00PM

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Coyotes and liberals, one and the same. See one see them all. Survival is sneaking around in packs.
Too bad about the hiker though. I have some doubts is coyotes really did this. They might have finished her off after some mishap, but an outright attack?

Frank DuBois said...

Anonymous, check the update.

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Tick said...

Are Chupacabras ever seen that far north?