Taylor Mitchell Killed in Coyote Attack
A young, and very talented, Canadian folk singer was killed this week in a very unusual attack: two coyotes, apparently acting in tandem, attacked and mauled her on a hiking trail in Newfoundland.
Link
All the reports I've seen have been emphasizing the surprise that the wildlife authorities have at this attack. Coyotes are clever, smart, and generally timid animals. At least when dealing with humans. Unprovoked attacks against someone so much larger than the coyotes are very very rare.
Of the two animals involved in this attack, one has been killed, and it seems that rabies has been ruled out.
So, why the attack?
Obviously I can't know. And since Mitchell was hiking alone, no one knows what prompted the attack, if anything did.
One of the dirty things that a lot of people don't care to mention about coyotes, though, is that they are not aloof. While they are normally solitary animals, except when raising a litter, they don't care so much about staying strictly within their own species for breeding. For that matter, the red wolf (Canis rufus) was found to be a hybrid between the grey wolf and the coyote. In the wild coyotes have been observed to have mated and bred with grey wolves, red wolves, as well as other coyotes.
They also are quite willing to breed with the domestic dog.
Now, I really like God's Dog, but Hope Ryden is not what I'd call an impartial reporter. In spite of that she is particularly convincing when she points out that a lot of the traits that are at odds with normal coyote behavior are often behaviors that are generally associated with feral dogs. I can't swear that she's right to claim that the majority of the problems she'd seen with so-called coyotes and humans had come from coy-dog hybrids. My gut reaction is that she's likely onto something, but the evidence was not there when I last went looking.
At any rate, the point I'm trying to bumble towards is that I believe that this attack is going to have one effect, and the more logical conclusion will be ignored.
What I expect is that this woman's tragic death is going to be used as an excuse or justification for greatly expanded hunting and culling of coyote populations through North America.
What's going to be ignored is the likely contribution by feral dogs to this incident and people will still refuse to get their pets neutered.
And both these conclusions sadden me almost as much as I am saddened by the horrible loss of this vibrant talent. :sad:
