Coyote Attack Kills Person: What Really Happened?

[lisab]

Wow,http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/29/taylor.mitchell/index.html" !

I've never heard of such a thing. Coyotes are never aggressive to humans, in my experience.

Does anyone know if the coyotes are being hunted, to find out if they were rabid? I can't think of another plausible explanation for the attack.

 

[Sorry!]

I've heard of coyote attacks occurring before they are pretty rare though. Never in my life have I heard of a person being killed by coyotes though.

 

[Astronuc]

That's interesting that the coyotes are running in a pack. Usually they are solitary, except when mating. I wonder if wolves have cross-bred with them.

Taylor Mitchell was a "seasoned naturalist" versed in wilderness camping, mother says

? Hmmm. I somehow doubt that. Good reason to take a satellite-based cell phone with one when going into the wilderness alone.

 

[Office_Shredder]

An article that answers all your questions! (sort of)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/taylor-mitchell-singerson_n_337836.html

Apparently it was two coyotes, and they are/were looking for them

 

[JasonRox]

Raise your hands in the air and most of them get scared and run away.

She probably had no idea what to do.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I've never heard of such a thing. Coyotes are never aggressive to humans, in my experience.

Call off your old tired ethics.

 

[Sorry!]

"It's very unusual and is not likely to be repeated," Bancroft said. "We shouldn't assume that coyotes are suddenly going to become the big bad wolf."

From the article office posted. It also says she screamed and was heard by other hikers so I doubt she didn't move to try and scare them off.

 

[Astronuc]

From the article office posted. It also says she screamed and was heard by other hikers so I doubt she didn't move to try and scare them off.

I presume she panicked. But what the heck did the other hikers do? I'd have been flying down the trail or through the woods toward the screams if I heard someone screaming.

 

[Sorry!]

I presume she panicked. But what the heck did the other hikers do? I'd have been flying down the trail or through the woods toward the screams if I heard someone screaming.

That's true they called the authorities. Especially being in the wilderness if you hear someone screaming for help you probably should go at least scope it out. I doubt they did this though because when the police arrived the coyotes were still there and one was shot but they both ran off.

 

[Dembadon]

I've never heard of such a thing. Coyotes are never aggressive to humans, in my experience.

Call off your old tired ethics.

I grew up, and still live, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Coyotes are quite common here and I have never seen or heard of any attacks against humans; although I have lost 2 pets to them.

I think it is still safe to assume that this behavior is unusual.

 

[turbo]

We have coyotes, and they are generally pretty wary of humans. Their behavior changes when there is easy food in the offing - especially for a ***** with a litter or pups to feed. I have walked up to a coyote scarfing up mice, voles, snakes, etc after a hay-field has been mowed, getting to maybe 50 ft away before it retreated. Back off and the coyote comes back and resumes scavenging.

This was about 30 years ago, when I was trying to get some naturalist-type images of them and coyotes were generally smaller. Now there has been enough interbreeding with feral dogs, etc, that they can be pretty impressive in size, and they are moving into the niches once filled by wolves. Not only that, they pack-hunt for large game like deer. If they can get a deer moved onto a frozen lake that is icy and relatively free of snow, the deer is a goner.

 

[CRGreathouse]

*****

The censor needs to be tuned, I see.

 

[turbo]

The censor needs to be tuned, I see.

It rhymes with witch, but I guess you knew that.

 

[Sorry!]

I grew up, and still live, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Coyotes are quite common here and I have never seen or heard of any attacks against humans; although I have lost 2 pets to them.

I think it is still safe to assume that this behavior is unusual.

Even trying to get pictures or hunt them for game is really challenging. Usually you use calls to get them to come to you cause there is no way in hell you'll be able to sneak up on them. They can smell, hear, and see things extremely well...

 

[willieisalady]

I am indeed sorry to read of the killing and probably eating (at least partially) of Taylor Mitchell by Coyotes in Nova Scotia. The Coyotes were probably cold and hungry and she was a convent meal. Coyotes are wild meat eating animals and what they kill, they eat. People forget that any wild animal can attach anyone at any time. Once they attach or kill a person, these Coyotes must be killed to protect another people that would hike in the area in the future.

The article did not mention that Taylor was hiking with anyone. Back in the 1960’s when I was much younger, I was taught to never hike alone. Even on the most safe trail any accident could happen at any time to the most seasoned hiker. I was taught to always hike with at least 3 people or more in the party. For any injured person, one person should stay with the injured person and another should go for help. With more people, the injured person might be able to be carried out especially if the danger from a wild animal still exists.

When I was young, I took chances that I probably should not have when I hiked. Nothing happened to me and many others that took chances. I guess god watched over us and kept us safe. But I knew of others that took chances when hiking that were not so lucky. I want young people out there to remember that you are not invincible so hike safely.

 

[Ouabache]

I wonder if wolves have cross-bred with them.

There is evidence to support this idea, in the article http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing....act?sid=22243899-0cfb-4297-975e-ee70d5eeb4cb".

 

[tikay]

I am sorry for the family of this young lady, and like willie...I wish she had followed some precautions, such as never hike alone, and perhaps some bear spray was in order. Even though it is really surprizing that she was attacked, it probably could have been any number of animals that were dangerous to a human alone in the vicinity. I don't know the area, but wilderness trails, mean that you take certain precautions. Predators could be assumed to be a potential part of any wilderness hike, even of the human kind...sad to say.

I grew up hiking in the Smokies, the Appalachian mountains, and we always traveled in packs, for safety.

 

[willieisalady]

Coyotes can cross with dogs and the cross bred coyotes/dogs have much less fear of humans.
Could these attacking Coyotes be mixes of dogs/coyotes? Some times to determine mixes a DNA test must be run. But Taylor is still dead so what is the point.
Even dogs can attack humans and kill as we have seen so often esp. with pit bulls here in Texas.
When I went to college in the late 1960's, our small town(about 8,000 pop.) in the pan-handle of Texas had trouble with dogs. People let their dog run at night and they started to roam in packs. They attacked live stock in the near by fields and then they attacked a sixty something women walking to work at our school cafeteria at 5:30 am. She was hurt badly and was hospitalized for some time. So any animal can attack if not properly trained
and contained.

 

[GeorginaS]

We're having issues here with coyotes encroaching on the city like they never have before because of a booming rabbit population. There's a huge increase in wild rabbits within city limits, here, and, as a result, coyotes are moving into city limits to hunt them. I see coyotes almost daily, and, while I live close to rural areas, I'm still within city limits. They haven't attacked people yet, but if they cross-breed with dogs, who knows.

 

[sciler]

Wow that's crazy. There are some breaking out not too far from me also. People are seeing them more and more because their becoming accustomed to humans. But everyone still says their not a real big threat to humans. Never know