Coyotes kill Toronto singer in Cape Breton

CBC ^ | Thursday, October 29, 2009 | CBC

[John.Galt2012]

A 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto has died after being attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

[John.Galt2012]

FOX said the coyotes must have thought she was a deer...No, they thought she was an easy meal. Humans are only on the top of the food chain when we are allowed to use our minds to make a weapon. We are not born with any defense against other predators.

[dawn53]

We’re in Florida and have coyotes in our area. In fact we’re on a golf course, and they’ve been roaming the golf course, not only at night, but are sometimes spotted in the daytime. Quite a few small pets have been killed (cats and small dogs.) The ones in our area appear quite skiddish.

[fredhead]

Prayers up for her family.

Here's a good reason to allow weapons carry in our National Parks. Those are not Disney animals in our forests. That being said, I've encountered poisonous snakes and (possible) rabid raccoons and opossums in my back yard.....in the city of Norfolk, VA!

[Huck]

Here's a good reason to allow weapons carry in our National Parks

You think a 19 yr old female Canadian folk singer would have been carrying a weapon?

[trisham]

We have far more than five or six coyotes in this neighborhood. There’s a den about a half mile away from our yard.

[TSgt]

Then she should have carried a knife and or walked with a guy friend.

[John.Galt2012]

she could have hit them with her guitar.

[RichInOC]

“True coyotes don’t!...Kill folk singers!”

[BigSkyFreeper]

There’s a den of coyotes close to the farm house here too. Barnyard cats don’t last long around here. Which is a shame because there is a boom in the mouse population.

[trisham]

We've seen the coyotes in our yard a few times. I'm careful when I walk out behind the fence and when I work in the garden. We have large dogs, and I think that helps. Although our neighbor's cats can be a nuisance, they do help with the rodent population. However, two or three of their cats have “gone missing” in the last few years, and it is common to see “missing cat” signs on our street.

[Mobilemitter]

Well said. Of course there will be those who say the evil human should not have been there.

She fell prey to creatures who were doing what comes natural to them. The loss of her young life was needless and tragic.There are a number of 'tools' she could have carried that would have increased the odds of her surviving such an attack.

I will send this story to one of my coworkers. One of her favorite sayings is: "In nature all things are created equal". Really? You don't get out much do ya?

[Verbosus]

My house backs up to ‘open space’ (county owned/non-developable land),
and my neighbor walked out to find his dog barking at a coyote in the weeds.

He threw a rock at the coyote to scare it off, and as the coyote trotted off he
saw two more hidden in the weeks ready for a “side-attack” if his dog had
been unwise enough to be lured out by the coyote that was beckoning it.

Pack predators.

[Rebelbase]

“”In nature all things are created equal””

I’ll say it for you. Your co-worker is an idiot.

[snoringbear]

“FOX said the coyotes must have thought she was a deer...No, they thought she was an easy meal. Humans are only on the top of the food chain when we are allowed to use our minds to make a weapon. We are not born with any defense against other predators.”

I am still skeptical that these were coyotes. I think it was more likely that these were starving (thus skinny) wolves on the hunt. I live in Texas, grew up on a ranch, have been a hunter and camper all my life and have never seen a coyote make would could remotely be considered an aggressive act towards a human. However, must say, I now live in a upper middle class neighborhood on the northern edge of the Dallas metroplex and coyote sitings are very common in our community. They are particularly fond of the little bunnies that abound around here and the occasional French Poodle or kitty that is out and about. Just as a side note, the coyotes seem to have some new competition lately. There's a recent report of a hawk snatching a Chihuahua out of a homeowners back yard a few days back - lady witnessed the dastardly act from her kitchen window...

[Caipirabob]

I’ve seen two crossing the street inside the NE 101 in Scottsdale just recently, but this place has large “wild” brush areas all over in the urban area. They looked like hungry, mid-sized dogs.

[SampleMan]

Indeed, the line that predators would somehow avoid attacking people, if they only knew, is the stupidest thing that is trotted out every time their is a bear, shark, cougar, etc. attack. Large carnivores simply are not that particular. Yet supposedly intelligent people (read PhDs) always jump in with this stupidity.

Are we to believe that coyotes also confuse bears and cougars with deer?

[Natural Born 54]

(I posted this on another thread on same topic - repeating it because I believe they were coyotes.)

I live in Cape Breton. Coyotes are very large here and there ARE wolves here as well but very rare. We have heard a wolf howling at night - no confusing it with coyotes. We’ve often said we think they’ve cross-bred.

The coyotes also bold here. A guy was walking his medium sized dog on a leash along a country road just outside of our village in broad daylight. Coyote charged out of the woods and grabbed the pet by the neck and was gone before the man could even react, leash and all.

Saw a pack feasting on a deer they had run out onto the lake ice last winter in sight of our picture window that looks out over the Bras d’Or Lake. There were as many as five there at one time. Broad daylight. They also go after farm animals here, especially sheep and fowl.

DNR does not have a bounty on them but you can kill them - even hunt them if you want - unofficially. They are getting too numerous lately probably because of the mild winter temperatures which have allowed an increase in the number of deer, rabbit, grouse and other prey.

Originally they were brought in deliberately by DNR because the deer were too numerous and were eating trees planted for reforestation after logging. I am sure it was done to please STORA which was bought out by NEW PAGE recently - pulp mill here. They own lots of woodlands and have a lease on mucho provincial land for logging, including the Highlands I am told.

There are predators here for the coyote - black bears and cougars. Had a cougar in our yard and woods one night in September - a female yowling for a mate. Hope she got herself a few coyotes for breakfast but one cougar won’t help keep the coyote numbers down much as their territories can be up to 200 square miles.

Don’t ask if we go for a walk with our dogs on a trail or in the woods unprotected and I won’t have to answer you. I’ll just say that what happened to this young woman would not happen to us.

I hope the DNR gives serious consideration to allowing coyotes to be hunted officially and/or they put a bounty on them due to this girl’s death. Gives them a good reason to go against the greenies (Elizabeth F’ing May), but they probably won’t.

[mad_as_he$$]

If you can’t shoot ‘em poison them.

[Fresh Wind]

I wonder if she tried to pet the nice doggies?

[Leisler]

Years ago I was up driving around the Yukon. Around midnight, I drove down to the edge of the Yukon, got out of the truck and got out the sleeping bag and laid down thinking of Jack London. Well, I heard a wolf bay. No problem I thought, what’s one wolf? Then I heard the answers, 180 degrees around me of it’s pals. ON MY SIDE OF THE RIVER. Up out of the bag, back into the truck. No way was I waking up getting frenched by something stinking of dead deer breath.