-PJ
Posted on 10/28/2009 3:22:18 PM PDT by JoeProBono
A PROMISING young Canadian musician has been attacked and killed by coyotes while on a tour promoting her new album. Taylor Mitchell, 19, was considered a rising star of the folk music scene, having just earned a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination.
She was hiking alone on the Syline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park when a pair of coyotes attacked her.
Tourists rushed to her aid when they heard her screams and found Mitchell bleeding heavily from mulitple wounds "all over her body", according to The Canadian Press. "She was losing a considerable amount of blood from her wounds," paramedic Paul Maynard told TCP. One of the animals was later shot by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but the other got away.
Park officials said it was highly unusual for coyotes to be involved in such an aggressive attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Canadian tragedy ping.
Attacked during solo hike
Mitchell had been on a tour through the Maritimes, including a host of gigs slated for New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.
On a stop in Sydney, she decided to visit Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Mitchell, hiking alone on the Skyline Trail, was attacked by coyotes Tuesday afternoon. According to park officials, other hikers nearby managed to scare off the animals and call 911. The singer was hospitalized in Cheticamp and later airlifted to Halifax, where she died at the QEII Health Sciences Centre.
When the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrived on scene, the two animals were aggressive. Officers shot and injured one of the coyotes, but the animal fled. Officials are still searching for the injured coyote. The other coyote was killed later that evening. The dead coyote will be sent to the Prince Edward Island’s Atlantic Veterinary College for tests.
Coyotes, Canis latrans, normally eat at night and can weigh up to 50 pounds. While coyotes have been known to attack pets and even children, it is extremely rare for coyotes to attack adults. Although coyotes are considered to be clever and curious creatures, they are also quite shy. Park Superintendent Helene Robichard said that the unusual attack may have occurred due to “increased human-animal contact in national parks.” Bob Bancroft, retired biologist from Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources, said the attack is very rare. He said it was possible the coyotes mistakenly believed the singer was a deer or some other prey.
-PJ
They hunt in large packs in Oregon.
When my friend’s teenage daughter was out on my driveway talking on the phone she turned around to find a coyote looking at her. It scared her silly and she ran up to the house. This is only about 50 yards from our house and our very protective blue heeler! We made sure she took the heeler with her from then on.
On a related note... the most beautiful fur coat I have ever seen was made from coyote skins that the wearer had shot while in Alaska. I have a standing offer of swapping deer for coyote skins. I have two nice little 6 point bucks who bed down next to my garden.
I just looked at her press photos on her FB page. She seems to have been a shorter person, but not particularly thin. Her guitar is huge on her though, and I’m guessing it’s a full-size acoustic — hard to play when you’re short, but I’ve got a full-sized one, too and it looks about the same “on” me... I’m 5’4”.
Really? Interesting. They hunt alone where I grew up in Missouri.
When going for a hike in S. Texas, my family carries a gun. (2 and 4 legged coyotes)
They are as big as a small wolf ( up to 60+ pounds ) and they do run in packs!
They are nothing like the small SW coyotes and have far less fear of humans.
From what I understand, wolves are very hard on coyotes.
I have seen some here in the southern part of the state that you would swear was as big as a wolf.
They have less fear because they are hard to hunt in the woods and brush. There is very little open country and its quite hilly.
They come out mostly at night and you seldom see them out in the crop fields in the open.
I have about 6-10 that live in the back of my woods and hear them at night when they kill deer.
You can always tell when they make a large kill because they make lots of noise howling and fighting over it.
A buddy of mine shot one a few years ago that was close to 70 lbs! I forget the exact weight but it was in the high sixties.
It was during deer season, so I wonder if a deer that ran off wounded from a bad shot escaped the hunters only to wind up as coyote food.
About a minute later, I realized that was no dog, but a coyote. It was about the size of a boxer dog. I hear them, and see their tracks at times, and even an old den, but I don't usually see them.
That cured me of wanting to be a bull hauler. I have stuck with non-ambulatory cargo in my career.
.
When Chinese firecrackers did not get our 3 fed out Brahma steers into the corral/feedlot chute/ramp and up into the truck that finally took them to the custom butcher shop -
We got old Gray Lady - an elderly but tough Appaloosa Walking Horse mare - and she bared her long teeth and those 3 fat Brahmas were on the truck in a flash
I saw a big Brahma bull get his front legs over the top welded rai heavy steel pipe pit fencing at the Davie Auction - the gray haired Miami area buyers in the front row dropped their Havanas and scattered
My brother’s Brahma bull could clear a 6’ hogwire fence with 4 strands of heavy tight barbed wire on top and 5’ wide ditch on the other side
It sure tried to kill me several times
You never see Brahma or Brangus bulls in bullfight rings
Bullfighters do not like
to commit suicide
When I first bought my home, my neighbor still rented the pasture behind to someone with a herd of Brangus. I loved to watch the calves get frisky out there. Pretty little black babies, fun to watch them.
It was disappointing, tho, to take visiting children to the fence, only to have the cows and calves scatter.
But the bull wouldn’t deign to notice me or anyone else. Heaven help anyone whom he DID notice, LOL!
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