Folk Singer Taylor Mitchell Killed By Coyotes

[Marshall]

I just read this on AGF. Says she was from Owen Sound. Lived in a 125 year old house on Georgian Bay. Here's the story:

www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6895020.ece

A teenage folk singer has died after being set upon by two coyotes as she hiked alone in a national park in Nova Scotia.

Taylor Mitchell, 19, a rising star of the Canadian music scene, died in Halifax hospital yesterday after the normally shy animals attacked her as she hiked one of the most scenic trails in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

Walkers who heard her frantic screams alerted park rangers, who shot one of the coyotes.

The Toronto-born singer was airlifted to Halifax hospital but died of her injuries, authorities said.

Bridgit Leger, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said that police reached the scene quickly and shot one of the animals, apparently wounding it. But the wounded animal and a companion coyote managed to get away.

The two coyotes were "extremely aggressive" when rangers arrived at the scene of the attack, she added.

"Coyotes are normally afraid of humans. This is a very irregular occurrence," Ms Leger said.

Paul Maynard of Emergency Health Services said that Mitchell was already in critical condition when paramedics arrived on the scene and had multiple bite wounds over her entire body.

"She was losing a considerable amount of blood from the wounds," he said.

The entrance to the trail where she was attacked has been blocked as officials from Parks Canada investigate what prompted the unusual attack.

"There’s been some reports of aggressive animals, so it’s not unknown," said Helene Robichaud, the park’s superintendent. "But we certainly never have had anything so dramatic and tragic."

Ms Mitchell was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award this year in the young performer of the year category and was viewed as a future talent.

"Words can't begin to express the sadness and tragedy of losing such a sweet, compassionate, vibrant, and phenomenally talented young woman," said Lisa Weitz, Ms Mitchell's manager. "She just turned 19 two months ago, and was so excited about the future."

Ms Weitz said that the singer had been savouring her independence as she "had just gotten her licence and her first set of wheels to take her on the road". Ms Mitchell last performed at a small concert in Lucasville, and was due to continue this week with a tour of eastern Canada that she had been eagerly looking forward to.

"Taylor was a brilliant and beautiful light that people were naturally drawn to," said Michael Johnston, who produced her debut CD, For Your Consideration, earlier this year.

"She was so young and talented — her big dreams were a perfect match with her big, kind heart."

Coyotes, which are also known as prairie wolves, are found from Central America to the United States and Canada.

Bob Bancroft, a wildlife biologist, said that coyote attacks are extremely rare because the animals are usually shy.

Mr Bancroft, a retired biologist with Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources, said it’s possible the coyotes thought that Mitchell was a deer or other prey.

"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."

Ms Mitchell wrote on her website two months ago of her excitement at a forthcoming gig. "I'll be playing my first show in Owen Sound this fall and am incredibly excited to be playing in what feels like my real home town.

"My entire family is from the Sound, both the McKays and the Mitchells. Both families are big, but the McKays practically owned the town and are to numerous to keep straight..."

"Our cottage is on the shores of Georgian bay. It's 125 years old with three bedrooms that sleep two and one bedroom that sleeps four, plus a bunk house. It's old and creaky and absolutely beautiful. As I sit on my couch in my apartment, I'm homesick for the precariously slanted stairs, tennis courts, lake, and wonderful memories."

[Don Clark]

How absolutely awful.

[omaha]

Horrible and bizarre! So sad!

[theevan]

I'm speechless. I went to her MySpace. I feel sad.

[Village Idiot]

That's just terrible. Coyotes don't act like that, they just don't. That girl is just too talented and young to become a statistic like that. What a tragedy.

[mnhermit]

I kept hoping there was a punch line. Too sad and too bizarre for words.

[Cornflake]

That's bizarre. As others have noted, coyotes almost never behave that way. Weird.

[Shannon]

Tragic.

[Fingerplucked]

Sad. It's only been a day. I wonder if we'll hear more about the two coyotes.

[RickW]

We have a lot of coyotes around our complex. We just sent out a warning to everyone to watch their dogs - a coyote did a fly by of a couple out walking their yorkshire terrier, and just about got the dog. But we have lots of little kids, too, who are outside playing all the time.

It is very odd behaviour. Maybe they were young, or very hungry. But it does not bode well for the local coyote populations - people mostly leave them alone. Perhaps not so much now.

Wonder if Sek knew her. Very, very sad. A kid about grown up, working on a great life and career.

[sekhmet]

I didn't know her. She wasn't really from Owen Sound and she didn't really live here. But she clearly loved the area, and she has lots of local relatives. Doesn't matter - it's a tragedy. Taylor was a rising star apparently, and could have had a brilliant career. All the old folkies are devastated.

I have walked the Skyline trail where she was attacked on a number of occasions. It isn't really a park. It's a series of trails cut into the wilderness. On one side of the trails is the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on th other is miles and miles of wilderness. Cape Breton is mostly uninhabited and mountainous. They call the interior The Barrens. No one has ever settled in there - it's mostly impassable and it's too wild.

We get a false sense of security, surrounded by our constructions and in the midst of our numbers. We forget that we really don't own the planet. Taylor was in a very vulnerable position, walking along a remote road in the domain of the moose and wolves and coyotes. The trail is literally strewn with moose. It's rutting season and moose are dangerous. No one should ever go up there by themselves even in high summer. Perhaps the coyotes were rabid, but probably they were just hunting.

It's very sad, and I feel sorry for her friends and family. If there is anything to be learned from this tragedy it is that we should respect the planet and its creatures and be aware when we are putting ourselves in danger.

[sidheguitarmichael]

What a story. Bizarre, compelling and awful.

[John B]

We have a coyote in our midst. Carrie saw it yesterday morning, hanging out in the back yard. The guys painting our house last month saw it running through the yard, chasing a deer. One of our other neighbors reported that they saw the coyote, and they're pretty sure it killed one of the fawns this last Spring.

I don't know what, if anything, to do about it. We live surrounded by 20-25 acres of wilderness, which connects to another 20-20 acres, which isn't too far away from... But we're smack in the middle of the city (our house is where the blue arrow surrounded by the orange dot is).



So, do we decide it is the circle of life? A way to control the deer population, which seems to be pretty large? Across the state line in Kansas, one of the big parks has 7 times the amount of deer per acre than is "normal," and they're bringing in sharpshooters and bow hunters to decrease the population (how low I don't know). The venison then goes to local shelters, or is available to low income families.

The coyotes are top of the food chain around here - foxes are next lowest. Last year, we trapped the fox that attacked our little 18 lb. dog. As far as we know, the coyote hasn't taken down any dogs in the area (I'm warning our neighbor with a mini poodle when I get home tonight - at least they have a fence). Right now our big dog seems to be protecting the little one. In fact, after the coyote walked out of sight in our backyard, Carrie let Susie out on leash. Susie pulled Carrie off her feet heading towards where the coyote was headed, doubling in size (she's got a pretty fierce mane) and starting her devil growl/bark. Carrie caught sight of the coyote, far off, getting the hell out of there.



I'm worried about the coyote and the danger it represents. I'm worried about a predator encroaching into "our" territory. But I don't know if I want to get rid of it - killing it seems to be about the only way, other than hiring someone to track it and relocate it.

Conundrum.

[John B]

From the Wiki:

Attacks on humans
Coyote attacks on humans are uncommon and rarely cause serious injuries, due to the relatively small size of the coyote. However, coyote attacks on humans have increased since 1998 in the state of California. Data from USDA Wildlife Services, the California Department of Fish & Game, and other sources show that while 41 attacks occurred during the period of 1988-1997, 48 attacks were verified from 1998 through 2003. The majority of these incidents occurred in Southern California near the suburban-wildland interface.

Due to an absence of harassment by residents, urban coyotes lose their natural fear of humans, which is further worsened by people intentionally feeding coyotes. In such situations, some coyotes have begun to act aggressively toward humans, chasing joggers and bicyclists, confronting people walking their dogs, and stalking small children. Like wolves, non-rabid coyotes usually target small children, mostly under the age of 10, though some adults have been bitten.

There are only two recorded fatalities in North America from coyote attacks. In 1981 in Glendale, California, a coyote attacked toddler Kelly Keen, who was rescued by her father, but died in surgery due to blood loss and a broken neck. In October 2009, Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer on tour, died from injuries sustained in an attack by a pair of coyotes while hiking in the Skyline Trail of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada.

[Doug]

Across the state line in Kansas, one of the big parks has 7 times the amount of deer per acre than is "normal," and they're bringing in sharpshooters and bow hunters to decrease the population (how low I don't know). The venison then goes to local shelters, or is available to low income families.

Good solution.

Residential deer are a big problem a lot of places.

[John B]

Doug, there is a huge outcry against the "wholesale slaughter" of these innocent creatures. I'm firmly in the "wildlife control" camp - better to manage the population, rather than let disease and vehicles do it.

I'm thinking a pellet gun might be a deterrent - I have a friend who would let me borrow his. I don't want to cause any serious injury, just a "WTF?!?" response. Hmm.

[Fingerplucked]

Pellet guns can give him more than just a WTF.

When we were kids my younger brother pointed a pellet gun at me while we were upstairs in the bedroom. I told him not to. He said it's not loaded. I told him I don't care if it's loaded or not, I'm going to beat the crap out of him if he doesn't point that gun somewhere else. He pointed it away and then fired a shot to show me that it wasn't loaded.

About a week later my father assembled all the kids, demanding to know who had drilled a hole through the bedroom door. Of course we all denied it. (We denied stuff even when we did do it.) My father kept pressing. We kept denying. I was sure that one of my other brothers did it, until I saw a similar sized hole in the wall across from the bedroom door. That's when I realized what had really happened.

[omaha]

Oct 30, 2009 11:39:24 GMT -5 John B said:

Doug, there is a huge outcry against the "wholesale slaughter" of these innocent creatures. I'm firmly in the "wildlife control" camp - better to manage the population, rather than let disease and vehicles do it.

Yep.

If you don't want lots of predators around (and I can sure understand why we don't), then you sort of take it on yourselves to manage the population of game animals.

[millring]

I love that picture of Susie.

We have had a family of coyotes in the field across the street for a few years now. It's a 40 acre plot divided by a wetland, tree-covered area.

We used to be almost overrun with rabbits. Then we started noticing more coyote yipping and fewer rabbits until the rabbits virtually disappeared. This Spring, both re-appeared.

The neighbor who owns the field across the street has taken to making trails through it for his off-road atv and motocross bikes, so I was surprised the other night to once again hear the coyotes yipping. Dar's seen the pups once, the adults a few times.

Once you get past the huge warehouse behind our property, there is three miles of uninterrupted farm field and woodland stretching off to the west. We're not in the boonies, but we abut them.

[Doug]

Oct 30, 2009 11:50:20 GMT -5 Fingerplucked said:

Pellet guns can give him more than just a WTF.

When we were kids my younger brother pointed a pellet gun at me while we were upstairs in the bedroom. I told him not to. He said it's not loaded. I told him I don't care if it's loaded or not, I'm going to beat the crap out of him if he doesn't point that gun somewhere else. He pointed it away and then fired a shot to show me that it wasn't loaded.

About a week later my father assembled all the kids, demanding to know who had drilled a hole through the bedroom door. Of course we all denied it. (We denied stuff even when we did do it.) My father kept pressing. We kept denying. I was sure that one of my other brothers did it, until I saw a similar sized hole in the wall across from the bedroom door. That's when I realized what had really happened.

True pellet guns vary in power from .17 cal that are little more than BB guns to .22 cal that have more power than a .22LR. So the weak ones will give a WTF to a Robin and the powerful ones will kill a deer with a well placed shot. If you just want a WTF reaction get a paint ball gun.