# Coyotes kill Toronto singer in Cape Breton in Nova Scotia Highland Park



## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/10/28/ns-coyote-attack-died.html

_A 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto has died after being attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park._
_Taylor Josephine Stephanie Luciow, who went by the stage name Taylor Mitchell, died overnight at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. She had been on tour in the Maritimes._
_Mitchell was hiking on the Skyline Trail when she was attacked Tuesday afternoon. She was taken to the hospital in Cheticamp, then airlifted to Halifax in critical condition._
_Park officials said Mitchell was walking the trail alone. They said other hikers managed to scare off the coyotes and call 911._
_An RCMP officer shot at one of the animals but couldn't find the body. Later Tuesday evening, park staff located another coyote and killed it. Derek Quann, the park's resource conservation manager, said he doesn't know whether it was one of the ones involved in the attack. He said there were no signs on the animal's body that it had been shot._
_Quann said he believes there are five or six coyotes in the area. Park staff were still trying to track down the other coyote involved in the attack Wednesday._
_"One of the individuals may be dead now and may have gone off into the woods and died after some distance," said Quann._
_Germaine LeMoine, a Parks Canada spokeswoman, said the hunt for the second coyote would go "around the clock." The trail where the attack happened has been barricaded._
_LeMoine said even if a second animal is found and killed, the trail would not be opened until officials could conclude they had both coyotes involved in the attack and the trail was safe for the public._
*Rare attack*

_Bob Bancroft, a retired biologist with the Department of Natural Resources, said this kind of attack is extremely rare and he's never heard of such a serious case in Nova Scotia._
_He said coyotes, which are normally up to 50 pounds, are usually very shy, though they can be bold._

_*Wildlife warnings*_ _Coyotes can be found in rural and urban area across Canada. They often shy away from humans, but if one does approach, here's what to do:_


_Be aggressive yourself: Wave your arms, stomp and yell loudly in a deep voice to deter it from coming closer._
_Stand your ground: Stay where you are and look it in the eye. Never run away; it is more likely to consider you prey, give chase and seriously harm you._
_Be prepared: The best defence is a good offence; carry a whistle, flashlight and/or personal alarm. This is especially important for small children who play outside or walk to school in areas where coyotes have been spotted._
_Stay together: If you are walking in an area that has high coyote activity, never do so without a companion._
_Don't lure them with food: Coyotes are scavengers. If you have pets, feed them inside the house rather than leaving food outside, don’t leave meat scraps or products in compost buckets outside your house, keep regular compost in an enclosed area and ensure garbage bins have tight resealable lids to keep out animals._

_"In situations like a national park [where] usually there's no hunting and no trapping allowed, they can get used to a human presence and not have much fear of any retribution," Bancroft told CBC News._
_It's unclear what happened in the woods on Tuesday._
_When park staff arrived, Mitchell was already en route to Sacred Heart Hospital in Cheticamp, said Quann._
_Bancroft said coyotes team up to take down deer, and it's possible the hiker didn't even realize what was happening._
_"They may have snuck up on her and knocked her over before she even knew what happened," he said. "They may have been youngsters. They just may not have had a lot of experience, or they may have just capitalized on a situation where a young person was acting vulnerable and very frightened by their presence."_
_He said there's a slight possibility that the animals had rabies._
_Quann said the coyotes might have been hungry or might have been protecting a kill. He said the animals that park staff saw Tuesday night were "quite agitated."_
_"Our experience in the past for any aggressive coyote which has been submitted for analysis, we haven't had one come back yet as having testing positive for something like rabies, although sometimes they will come back being emaciated animals, perhaps desperate and hungry," he said._
_Bancroft had his own run-in with a coyote several years ago when he was alone in the woods._
_"A coyote came straight at me. It happened very, very quickly. It stopped and I just stood my ground, I didn't act," he said. "It actually regrouped and charged again. And I think the fact that I didn't act like a prey item convinced it to leave me alone."_
_Bancroft advises hikers to be alert and leave their iPods at home. He also suggests carrying a knife._
_The Skyline Trail, one of the most popular trails in the park, has been closed and barricaded._


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## Daryl Ehret (Apr 4, 2006)

I've been saying for a couple years that coyote attacks would get more frequent.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

Why do you think Daryl?


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## Sidney Johnsen (May 31, 2009)

Lived in New Brunswick for 5, almost 6, months. _*Hated* it_, but that's beyond the point. 

Spent time in Nova Scotia -- the coyotes in that area were not just coyotes.. they were coy/dog crosses. The one I spotted on the side of the road was definately bigger than a normal 'yote, and the locals -- especially the hunters -- all said the same thing. That there were feral dogs running out there that were breeding with the coyotes. I'm kinda surprised this isn't mentioned in any of the articles -- as when I heard about this, that was my first guess.. is that the animals that made the attack were either sick, or had cross bred with dogs which had made them more braver in approaching humans.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

You have more of a chance of getting killed driving your car to work, getting attacked by a domestic dog (with a fool owner) or being stung by a bee than getting attacked let alone killed by a coyote. 

There was something obviously wrong with those coyotes either rabid or just plain hungry. Face it, ... over the millenia humanoids have always been prey animals for other bigger faster carnivores. It has been our discovery of fire, domestication of livestock and mastery of edged weapons/firearms that has tipped the scales in the humanoids favour.

I can see all the Coyote vengeance teams out there now with their cases of beer, pick up trucks and high power scoped rifles making the Highland Park a safer place.


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## Daryl Ehret (Apr 4, 2006)

Michelle Kehoe said:


> Why do you think Daryl?


The first reported attack on a civilian in Yellowstone Nat. Park occured somewhere between OCT and DEC 2006. The wolf reintroduction has put a lot of pressure on the coyotes to find new resources for food. That particular incident was a struggle with the dog over a backpack, not an anctual attack on the person. With the harsh climate and fewer scavenging opportunities in the northern climate, it's not the same as the coyotes who skirt the disposal grounds on the fringes of LA. Also, with the same pressures to leave their wilder habitat, the frequency of crossbreeding with domestic dogs has increased, and that can lead to a bolder opportunist than we're used to seeing. There's been an increase of wolf attacks as well, but probably not as great of a concern. Yet, anyway. Especially if they continue to learn to fear humans through hunting management. Wolves have a bigger impact on coyote habitat and behavior than people do, they're in direct competition.


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## Ted Efthymiadis (Apr 3, 2009)

Geoff Empey said:


> http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/10/28/ns-coyote-attack-died.html
> 
> _A 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto has died after being attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park._
> _Taylor Josephine Stephanie Luciow, who went by the stage name Taylor Mitchell, died overnight at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. She had been on tour in the Maritimes._
> ...



As I live in NS, I can say that is not a normal thing that happened. 
The professionals are examining the situation trying to find out what triggered the dogs.

I will say that sid is correct. I have lived and traveled to many placed in north America, and the Coyotes we have in NS are nothing like anything anywhere else, from what I have seen and heard. 

For example. about 3 months ago I was walking my dogs at 2 am near my house. As I came to my street, i saw what I thought was a large wolf. As It was snowing, I could not see the animal very well, but as I got closer, it was not afraid and remained near us for some time. The closer I got, the more I could see that it was a coyote. Now I have a 80lb malinois, and this animal was much larger than my Malinois. 

These animals must have crossed with dogs over the years, as they are very very large now in my area.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

I keep saying I have seen some decent sized ones here too. We don't have wolves in CA so there are no worries about mixing up the 2, unless peopel are letting their hybreds go.


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

On the east coast it does look like since the Wolf for the most part has been pushed out of the ecosystem. The Coyotes have stepped up to the plate to fill in the gap. They are bigger, bolder and more dangereous than the wolves were in the first place, as they seem to be drawn more to human activity than what wolves were. A neat link on human coyote interaction http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/whc/coyotes.cfm as well as info here on the changes the eastern coyote have been doing to adapt with the removal of the wolf. http://www.wildlife.state.nh.us/Wildlife/Wildlife_profiles/profile_eastern_coyote.htm


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## Maddy Freemont (Sep 16, 2009)

There is a possiblity that these coyotes were coyote+wolf or coyote+dog and perhaps there will be mixes of the two hybrids that already exist.

This story does BEG the question of what the woman was doing... was she on drugs? was she trying to coax the yotes close to her? why didn't she have a stick for self-defense or climb a tree? did she even have any "fight" in her?

I also wonder if the neighboring hikers who dialed 911 did ANYTHING else to help her out???


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## Geoff Empey (Jan 8, 2008)

Maddy Freemont said:


> There is a possiblity that these coyotes were coyote+wolf or coyote+dog and perhaps there will be mixes of the two hybrids that already exist.
> 
> This story does BEG the question of what the woman was doing... was she on drugs? was she trying to coax the yotes close to her? why didn't she have a stick for self-defense or climb a tree? did she even have any "fight" in her?
> 
> I also wonder if the neighboring hikers who dialed 911 did ANYTHING else to help her out???


Sure is hard to say Maddy. I've come face to face with a yearling black bear once while mountain biking and I made big ruckus throwing branches, yelling and kept my bike between me and the bear even if the bear never came within 10m of me. It backed off quickly and I never turned my back to it. 

It's possible she got jumped from behind that is what Cougars do and she never saw it coming. Even a small K9 can do quite a bit of damage. I got bit by a 3 month old pup a while back and he opened me up like a can opener. So 2 full grown Coyotes 40-50 lbs if they surprised a person could easily do significant damage. 

I hope we do get some follow up from the other hikers point of view, it sure is easy to speculate without us not being there.


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