Tuesday, October 25, 2011

When Coyotes Attack

When I think of coyotes I think of annoying howling in my backyard at 12am and not being able to fall asleep because of it. When I see them trotting through my backyard or pouncing on the snow in the spring breaking the crust of the snow and catching mice, I never think twice about them. My dad has always said "The coyotes are more scared of you than you are of them, they will never let you get close enough to hurt you." I always believed that because they never came close to the house or near any person while we have been outside.


After reading this article I have a little bit of a different thought on coyotes. The article "When Coyotes Attack" is an article about how a 19 year old musician, Taylor Mitchell, was on a trip to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and wanted to go on a hike before she had to leave. While she was hiking she encountered a few coyotes and ended up being attacked by them.


Taylor was hiking by herself. There were American hikers on the same trail and they saw 2 coyotes trot past them on the trail, but they were shocked at how they did not run away and just went right passed them.


A few minutes later the four hikers heard screams. They went to call 911 because they knew they were close to a phone station close by, on the way there they passed four Australian hikers and told them what happened. Those four hikers then went to investigate. They passed keys and a knife but kept walking because that's not where the screams were coming from. They finally came to a toilet area where Taylor was lying in a pool of blood and she was surrounded by two coyotes.


Taylor was airlifted to a hospital but died the next morning from blood loss.


Coyote attacks used to be unheard of but now that humans are starting to go into their habitat they are used to humans. Studies show that most of the attacks now are not due to rabies or hunger. They have seen that the coyotes have been stalking people while on the trails and then they eventually attack a different human.


This article shows that it is our own fault for these attacks because we are going into their habitats and disrupting them. I will defiantly be more careful when they are around knowing they attack rates with coyotes are going up.



Article by: Ian Merringer


Explore Canada's Outdoor Magazine


March/April 2010 issue






Post by : Mackenzie Burns

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