Canadian Woman Killed by Coyotes

[Mrs Baggins]

Coyotes I've met run when butterflies fart.

Another "they're more afraid of you" line............clearly they are not more afraid of you.........

We lived in Arizona, near Scottsdale in a very busy residential area, and we had coyotes openly trotting down the streets day and night. They walked the top of our wall around our backyard looking for our cats (which were never allowed out). They are brazen and unafraid. I know a birdkeeper at the National Zoo in DC and they've had problems with coyotes coming into the zoo to eat the birds that are outside of the birdhouse. They've had to build special barriers. If you know the zoo then you know it's smack in the middle of a very busy area of NW DC.

[beakerman]

Most of the people I hike with have some sort of 1st Aid training. The 1st aid kit I have in my car is like a portable OR but what I carry in my pack is pretty much duct tape, Vitamin I, Immodium, and some ointment. I know I should carry more but for some reason I never add anything else to it. Oh yea, I have my Epi-Pen incase I get into it with a bee.

duct tape don't stick when it is covered with blood and if you're trying to stop a bleeder you are going to have trouble with it that way.

If you look at your kit critically, and I'm not trying to make any statements about you as a person because I think most folk are jsut like you in this sense: your kit contains primarily stuff for you and you alone...sure you could inject someone with that epi-pen if you needed to but the only reason you carry it is because you likely have a bee alergy. You carry ibu and immodium to make things more comfortable but that's about all you have going on there. By your own admission you carry stuff you think you will need for your comfort, health and safety not for the assistance of another hiker that needs someting more than relief from a bad bug bite, sore back or a case of the runs...

As I said I'm not making a judgement of you as a person I just think that what you list is inadequate. I'm not saing you have to carry a crash cart with you but would a few maxipads really do you in? They work great for lacerations...pack off the worst of the bleeders with them and then use your duct tape to hold them in place. Oddly tampons work well for large puncture wounds but the ER gets reall fussy with you when you do that. A halfway decent first aid kit can come to a total of about 2 pounds--if you don't include a roll of duct tape as part of it--that stuff is heavy but it's a the swiss army knife of tapes...

[beakerman]

Another "they're more afraid of you" line............clearly they are not more afraid of you.........

We lived in Arizona, near Scottsdale in a very busy residential area, and we had coyotes openly trotting down the streets day and night. They walked the top of our wall around our backyard looking for our cats (which were never allowed out). They are brazen and unafraid. I know a birdkeeper at the National Zoo in DC and they've had problems with coyotes coming into the zoo to eat the birds that are outside of the birdhouse. They've had to build special barriers. If you know the zoo then you know it's smack in the middle of a very busy area of NW DC.

urban coyotes are like racoons in parks: they have associated humans with food and are not afraid of us. I know the coyotes you are talking about we had problems with them in Albuquerque when I lived there many moons ago. But all of the coyotes that I saw outside of town ran at the first sight of me. So in my opinion for a "wild" coyote this is odd behavior. Also coyotes are small game eaters: squirrel, dogs, cats, mice, rats and such. They typically don't go for anything larger than themselves.

[waywardfool]

They typically don't go for anything larger than themselves.

They are taking deer and calves around there. (That comes directly from our area's state wildlife officer)

[Jester2000]

Another "they're more afraid of you" line............clearly they are not more afraid of you.........

We lived in Arizona, near Scottsdale in a very busy residential area, and we had coyotes openly trotting down the streets day and night. They walked the top of our wall around our backyard looking for our cats (which were never allowed out). They are brazen and unafraid. I know a birdkeeper at the National Zoo in DC and they've had problems with coyotes coming into the zoo to eat the birds that are outside of the birdhouse. They've had to build special barriers. If you know the zoo then you know it's smack in the middle of a very busy area of NW DC.

urban coyotes are like racoons in parks: they have associated humans with food and are not afraid of us. I know the coyotes you are talking about we had problems with them in Albuquerque when I lived there many moons ago. But all of the coyotes that I saw outside of town ran at the first sight of me. So in my opinion for a "wild" coyote this is odd behavior. Also coyotes are small game eaters: squirrel, dogs, cats, mice, rats and such. They typically don't go for anything larger than themselves.

I, too lived in Phoenix and saw coyotes in the parking lot of my apartment complex on a regular basis. I lived at Greenway & Cave Creek, which has Lookout, Shadow, and North Mountain Preserves close by. Usually they were sniffing around the dumpsters and always ran when any humans made an appearance. I could see how eating cats would appeal to them, but they never threatened any humans.

As for first aid, I'll be the first person to admit that, like everything else in my pack, the first aid kit I carry is for me, and me alone. I would expect everyone out there to carry their own kit, full of the things they think necessary for themselves, not for the assistance of other hikers. This is not to say that I wouldn't use items in my kit to help others -- it's just that I don't feel the need to carry first aid for others, just like I don't carry food or extra gear for them.

[Wise Old Owl]

You might want to add this to your First Aid Kit..

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...set=ISO-8859-1


There has to be a reason why the coyotes attacked her, did she run? did she have food on her? etc... and as someone picked up why didn't others come to her aid?

[sheepdog]

urban coyotes are like racoons in parks: they have associated humans with food and are not afraid of us. I know the coyotes you are talking about we had problems with them in Albuquerque when I lived there many moons ago. But all of the coyotes that I saw outside of town ran at the first sight of me. So in my opinion for a "wild" coyote this is odd behavior. Also coyotes are small game eaters: squirrel, dogs, cats, mice, rats and such. They typically don't go for anything larger than themselves.

they eat a lot of deer in Michigan

[DaveJohns]

QuickClot and Celox function the same, just different materials. Just so you know, QC is exothermic - it will warm up as it does its' thing. The sponge and gauze setups aren't as bad as the old powder, but it does get pretty warm. Celox uses a different material, so no exothermic reaction. They both work! If you decide to get any of these products for your kit, do the ER staff a favor and get the sponge or gauze versions. As I understand it, while the powder works very well, it is a nightmare to clean out at the hospital...

[mudhead]

they eat a lot of deer in Michigan

Same in Maine. They also eat apples. I figure they will eat anything.

Condolences to the woman's family.

[Mrs Baggins]

no pistols in canada anyway

Maybe not, but there are assault rifles. We lived across the street from Dawson College in Westmount (Montreal) when a young guy parked down the street, strode up to the school and started firing on students that were outside and then walked into the building firing away. This was Sept 2006.

[GeneralLee10]

I am not hiking solo No more I am scared now. I do think it is post of this nature that make people not want to get outdoors. Just my opinion

[Zac]

Coywolf?
http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2...e/news/4ch.txt

http://www.thestar.com/unassigned/article/681632

[beakerman]

they eat a lot of deer in Michigan

you sure it's not wolves? the coywolf--a coyote/wolfe hybrid got it's start in michigan...so you have both there. In fact the coywolf can also be mistaken for a coyote and they definitely take deer. As do the coyote/dog hybrids in the southeast.

i'm not really arguing the point with you just saying that it could be wolves dropping the deer and coyotes coming in later so someone would see coyotes chowing down and say "huh those coyotes killed and ate that deer...." perfectly logical conclusion.

All I know is aside from the urbanized coyotes I have never seen one that was not afraid of me. So based on my personal experiences with the beasties this seems odd behavior for a coyote. i will trust however that the ranger that "shot at one of them" knows what he shot at and leave it at that.

[Dogwood]

I see and experience relationships with many dangerous or poisonous wild animals. My first instinct isn't to tote a gun or fear some dangerous animal. Despite what we hear and see in the media, I'm not fearful of not always being at the top of the food chain. Instead, I've learned to adapt to various environments I place myself into. I've learned to live with and respect dangerous creatures by first getting informed of how these creatures tend to behave and secondly, being informerd of HOW I CAN CHANGE MY BEHAVIOR TO COEXIST WITH THESE CREATURES. I find that most, not all but the majority of, negative encounters can be avoided if I, as a human animal, change what I do! We too often forget that we have the power to do this! And, if we are to coexist with other creatures and the natural environment by being an integral part of it rather than simply seeking to dominate it we must learn to do this in the ever changing and increasingly human populated world in which we live.

It seems we hear so often how some dangerous animal hurt or is a threat to a human all the while forgetting that we as humans are often the most dangerous animal in the equation. We humans have a responsibility of sometimes adapting to the environment rather than always expecting the environment to bow to our ignorant, self-important, and selfish behaviors.

We don't fully know what happened with this woman. We don't fully understand what prompted these "Prairie wolves", ooh that sounds menacing and scary(do you feel the fear building?), to see this woman as being vulnerable. Perhaps, these coyotes, if that's in fact what attacked her, were somehow stressed or facing an unusual situation because this is unusual behavior for coyotes. I ask myself, "did the female hiker act in someway that prompted this situation or could she have behaved in some different way to avoid this situation?"

Regardless, of trying to second guess what actually occured with this woman and the coyotes, I think it best that we as humans learn to not act first out of ignorance and fear! BAD COMBINATION!

[Alaskanhkr23]

Thats sad ,coyotes are nasty

[KTR]

God Bless,

a constant reminder as why i support any hiker who carries a fire arm. I do pray for her .... I am sorry this happened

[Disney]

Maybe some re-runs of dancing with the stars or american idol or fox news will make you feel safe again. . .

Bull. Show me one fox news program intended to make people feel safe.


A few people touched on it early on, I want to bring it back up. There's something extremely odd here. Coyotes are skittish. In Texas, they will run away if you throw a stick at them. These have got to be some hybrid, or worse, they may be rabid. Everyone should get checked out.

[Wise Old Owl]

Another "they're more afraid of you" line............clearly they are not more afraid of you.........

We lived in Arizona, near Scottsdale in a very busy residential area, and we had coyotes openly trotting down the streets day and night. They walked the top of our wall around our backyard looking for our cats (which were never allowed out). They are brazen and unafraid. I know a birdkeeper at the National Zoo in DC and they've had problems with coyotes coming into the zoo to eat the birds that are outside of the birdhouse. They've had to build special barriers. If you know the zoo then you know it's smack in the middle of a very busy area of NW DC.

Mrs Baggins, I have seen the Eastern Coyote on the AT and at Hawk Mountain - They are skiddish and dissappear quickly, they are not a factor to be concerned about.

[Snowleopard]

Coyotes in the northeast may not be the same as those in the southwest; they're bigger, they take deer and probably are wolf hybrids (from genetic testing). It's not clear that their behavior is the same.

Coyotes here seem to usually avoid people. I hear them all the time at night, but have only seen one a couple times. I did hit one on the highway (I290) in a more suburban area.

The attack in the link I posted above http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news...21/detail.html a 76 year old man and his young grandson were attacked from behind. The animal tested positive for rabies. http://www.wickedlocal.com/northborough/news/x902760075 It's hard to see what else the guy could have done. The better outcome in this case is probably due to the fact that he was bigger than the poor woman in Canada.

In the Canadian case, you can see the trail from the highway but it's a significant climb. It probably just took other hikers too long to get to her.

[Wise Old Owl]

Picture::::: http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2...ge5438107g.jpg

She was hiking alone on a trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, in Nova Scotia, on Tuesday when the attack occurred.

2nd attack this year.

An official with Parks Canada said they blocked the entrance to the trail where Mitchell was attacked and were trying to find the animals to determine what prompted such an 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."

Mitchell had just earned her driving licence and embarked on a tour of the east coast to promote her new album. On her MySpace page, Mitchell said her influences were "constantly evolving" but included Van Morrison, the Eagles and Neil Young.

Her manager, Lisa Weitz, described Mitchell, who was nominated for a 2009 Canadian folk music award in the young performer of the year category, as a "sweet, compassionate, vibrant, and phenomenally talented young woman". She added: "She was just exhilarated to be on the road and performing. We are all devastated."


Many AP news staff are plagerizing the story no further details.