Re: Canadian woman fatally mauled by coyotes

Toronto singer victim of coyotes in Cape Breton
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091028/coyote_attack_091028/20091028

Apparently she was mauled by two coyotes in Nova Scotia. I've never heard of anything quite like it.

She was hiking alone. How do we know she wasn't seriously injured and then got "attacked" by the coyotes?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2009 01:01PM by eeek.

Quote
eeek
She was hiking alone. How do we know she wasn't seriously injured and then got "attacked" by the coyotes?

That doesn't sound like the case from witness reports. While there weren't any witnesses to the original attack, there were people who heard her crying out during the mauling. There doesn't seem to be any evidence that she gave any calls for help before the attack because of an injury.

The descriptions of the trail I've heard are that it's not terribly difficult. It doesn't sound as if she was unconscious and the coyotes just came across her. She was screaming.

That is curious.

Unless they were rabid, desperately starved, or otherwise food-conditioned. Something is awry.

It certainly seems to me that there is more to the story than "woman attacked by coyotes dies from the mauling".

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Old Dude

Quote
ulogoni
That is curious.

Unless they were rabid, desperately starved, or otherwise food-conditioned. Something is awry.

All the coyotes I have seen have been solitary rodent hunters rather than pack or cooperative hunters. Here is another option:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32976657/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Coyote + wolf = new breed of predator
‘Coywolf’ hybrids fill open evolutionary niche in northeast U.S.

By Jennifer Viegas

Tues., Sept . 22, 2009
New DNA evidence reveals that coyotes have bred with wolves in the the northeastern United States, turning mice-eating coyotes into much larger animals with a hunger for big prey, such as deer...

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

A little more on coyote behavior:

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/behavior/Spring2004/holmberg/Holmberg4.html

Coordinated group hunting among coyote packs is rare because of their ability to survive on small mammals such as gophers (Bekoff & Wells 1980). However, when coyotes do attack large prey they form a coordinated hunting group and target the weak or old individuals (Bekoff & Wells 1980)......

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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan

I think a lone coyote will also chase a doe and fawn in an attempt to tire the fawn to the point of exhaustion where then it can be killed or at least injured to the point the doe will give up on it leaving it to the coyote.

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Old Dude

Coyote or coywolf, the death is a novel ping on the radar. There has only been one other coyote caused human fatality documented in North America. Toddler Kelly Keen died from her wounds in Glendale, CA. 1981. The coyote had been food-conditioned.

With the coyote population what it is after wolves were nearly eradicated in the United States, that's saying somethin'. It's impossible to calculate even a rough estimate of the population, however the fact that each year 400,000 coyotes are exterminated here tells quite a tale. They've adapted well and are frequently in the company of people. In Chicago, for instance, there may be a couple thousand coyotes. Yet only two deaths now in all of recorded history.

As for wolves, there has only been one possible documented case of human mortality at the fangs of healthy, wild individuals. There is some controversy with this case. One of Canada's top carnivore biologists (Paul Paquet) deduced that the evidence indicated bears had done the actual killing. Basically, the expert said bear, the jury said wolf, and that was that. Either way 22-year old Kenton Carnegie was killed near an open garbage pit where large predators had once again become habituated to the presence of people through food.

So highly unusual any way you mix it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2009 10:38AM by ulogoni.

It seems that all the deaths or injuries caused by bear, wolf, coyote, mountain lion, or whatever, involve animals in an unnatural circumstance, conditioned to humans, a pet?, injured, starving, trapped, or harassed.

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Old Dude

My experience, observation and research are that coyotes are opportunistic predators who quickly adapt to any situation. This calls for a lot more investigation, but I would not trust a coyote under any circumstances. Years ago, a man who grew up next to the Crow Indian reservation repeated a remark that he heard from a Crow elder: The last 2 creatures on Earth will be the fly and the coyote, and they will each be plotting against the other.

From another perspective, I abhorred and detested high-capacity semi-automatic firearms for years - until I read of the backpacker who wound up in the middle of a 30-coyote "convention." The animals neither harmed or intimidated the man, but it made me wonder how I would cope with that scenario.

I also wonder what conditions would prompt a coyote/wolf genetic crossover. We have both in my area, and I believe the coyotes are scared silly of the wolf.

My understanding is that if you're not in my wolf pack you're dinner. And your kids too.

If there is a crossbreed I wonder who who was doing what to whom to get the breed started.

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Old Dude

I trust coyotes far beyond any trust I might put in a person who felt the need to carry a high-capacity semi-automatic firearm into the woods. I'd trust a puma or a grizzly bear over such a person. I'd trust them to be coyotes, puma, and grizzly bears with their intentions as sure as the cant of their ears. People can be and often are a much different story. Human caused human fatality statistics are daunting.

While on the northern range an estimated 85 to 90% of coyotes belong to packs, 30 of these canids together in one place sounds like a fabrication or an otherwise unnatural situation. You mentioned that you read this tale, how well was it documented, is it available online?

As for conditions that would prompt enough of an ease in canid territoriality or the threat of competition, I think it had something very much to do with the persecution of the wolf and the subsequent desperation of the situation. These two studies go into more detail:

Rapid adaptive evolution of northeastern coyotes via hybridization with wolves

Cross-bred animals found on Vancouver Island ‘aren’t fit as pets or wild creatures’

Biologists baffled by attack
The coyote attack Tuesday that killed Taylor Mitchell is rare on many levels, say wildlife scientists, including one who studied the animals in Nova Scotia for four years.

Some of the comments to this article are cringingly ignorant.

Couple more reports (2 weeks old, don't know how I missed them) on the Canadian coyote story:


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/11/taylor-mitchell-coyote-attack.html

Coyote that attacked musician Taylor Mitchell tests negative for rabies
November 5, 2009 | 10:28 am
Preliminary tests done on one of the coyotes that attacked and killed folk singer Taylor Mitchell last week showed no signs of rabies in the animal.
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jz1DITb53xBbH15zh65t2lGm-oFQ
Coyote believed to be involved in N.S. attack not diseased or hungry: experts
(CP) – Nov 2, 2009
LOUISBOURG, N.S. — Experts have determined that a coyote believed to be involved in a shocking attack on a young hiker on a Cape Breton trail was neither diseased nor hungry.
Parks Canada staff tracked and destroyed a coyote last Tuesday, hours after Taylor Mitchell, a folksinger from Toronto, was mauled by two of the animals in Cape Breton Highlands National Park...
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The cure for a fallacious argument is a better argument, not the suppression of ideas.
-- Carl Sagan