On October 27, 2009, Mitchell was hiking alone during the afternoon on the Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia. During her hike, she was attacked by two coyotes. During the attack, some other hikers came across Mitchell and managed to scare the animals away and called 911. When emergency crews arrived, she was taken to a hospital in Cheticamp and then airlifted to Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax in critical condition. She died overnight.[1]
An officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) later shot a coyote in the park though the officer could not find the body. In the evening, park staff located another coyote and killed it, though there were no signs on the animal's body that it had been shot. It is estimated that there were five or six coyotes in that area of the park.[1]
In an interview with The Gazette, Brad White, a coyote expert at Trent University in Peterborough, Ont. said they might have been coyote-wolf hybrids. However, Don Anderson a biologist with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources said he's seen no reason to suspect the animals were coyote-wolf crosses. Don Anderson noted there are no wolves in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Stan Gehrt, a coyote expert at Ohio State University's school of environment and natural resources suggested that the coyotes were rabid.[8]
Bob Bancroft, a Nova Scotia wildlife biologist, suggested that the coyotes were inexperienced hunters - hungry and desperate yearlings - and that their predatory instinct was triggered by the singer fleeing instead of standing her ground.[9] In The Gazette, Stan Gehrt thought this might be why the coyotes attacked: "Most canids (coyotes, foxes, and wolves) will attack prey that begin to run away from them. Maybe that's what she did. Unfortunately, there are no witnesses." [10]
It was the first fatal attack by coyotes since they were introduced on Cape Breton Island in the 1970's by Park wildlife officials to control a rabbit population that threatened new tree seedlings.[9] [11]
There are currently two recorded fatal attacks on humans by coyotes in North America. That of Mitchell was the second;[12] the first occurred in the United States[13] in August 1981, when 3 year old Kelly Keen was attacked by a coyote outside her home in Glendale, California, United States.[14]
Bookmarks