coyote attack in Cape Breton

No more warning shots - C.B. man says he’s taking dead aim

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1150389.html
Halifax, NS | Sat, October 31st, 2009​
No more warning shots
C.B. man says he’s taking dead aim at increasingly aggressive coyotes

By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton Bureau
Sat. Oct 31 - 4:46 AM

Louis Burke used to fire a warning shot at the coyotes that came near his home in Petit Etang and took off with his cats.

But from now on, he’ll be aiming to kill.

"If they’re going to be that aggressive, I’m going to fix them," the owner of Little Pond Stables said. "I didn’t bother shooting them until they got to be a nuisance around here.

""But when I see one now, he’s going to get it — guaranteed."

Mr. Burke said people in Cheticamp and the surrounding communities continue to mourn the tragic death of Taylor Mitchell. The Toronto folksinger died overnight Tuesday after two coyotes savaged her in the afternoon while she was hiking on the Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

RCMP say Ms. Mitchell was hiking alone. Members responded to a call at about 3:15 p.m., Sgt. Brigdit Leger said earlier. Witnesses called police when they saw the two animals mauling the girl.

Sgt. Leger could not say Friday how long it took police to get to the scene in the Cape Breton Highlands from the Cheticamp RCMP office.

Parks Canada conservation officers were still waiting Friday afternoon for the necropsy results on one of the coyote’s bodies. The other animal, believed to have been grazed by an RCMP bullet, had not been found.

Germaine LeMoine said the trackers still believe the remaining coyote was shot.

The Parks Canada spokeswoman would not say whether the animal had left a blood trail, or if it did why officers were not able to follow the trail to the allegedly wounded coyote.

"There’s been no discussion about it not being shot," she said.

She could not say what would happen to the remaining coyote or others that might be showing signs of aggression.

The decision to kill the animals would be made by those in the field, Ms. LeMoine said.

Ms. Mitchell’s mother, Emily Mitchell, told The Canadian Press that she believed her daughter, who loved both animals and nature, would not have wanted the coyotes killed because of what happened.

The attack on the 19-year-old girl was not the first incident of local coyotes turning on a human, Mr. Burke said.

"We had a skier here last winter (who) was out cross-country skiing and the coyote came at him twice," the Petit Etang man said. "He had to poke him with the spear of the friggin’ pole. So I mean, some of them are aggressive and that was up in the park, too."

The attack on the skier happened last January near French Lake in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Mr. Burke said. The lake is just a few kilometres from the Skyline Trail.

"Some of them (coyotes) up there are pretty sticky," Mr. Burke said. "People think they’re cute and they’re feeding them and that makes it worse. Then, they really get bold."

( lfraser@herald.ca)
© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1150389.html
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I keep hearing about these massive coyotes in Eastern Canada. I have hunted and trapped a helluva load of dogs over the years and never seen anything near as large as these stories suggest.

Is it possible that the Eastern Red Wolf has made a comeback? They look more like a coyote than the Gray Wolves, just smaller than the Grays. Anyone out East coming across any confirmed Reds?
 
Yep. A stevens 200 in .223 is looking pretty good.
I don't trust yotes. Seen one hunting last year, even though everyone shoots them, s/he didn't seem to concerned with me watching through the scope.
Didn't kill em, early in the day and didn't want to spoke anything.
 
southern nb's yotes

Glockenspiel said:
Just try explaining this attack to the tofu loving, tree hugging, latte drivelling retards in the big smoke of Vancouver :mad: :mad: these crazzy f**kers think coyotes are cute warm creatures that their kids should pet and hug.

there were a number of incidents from the US where yotes have gone after kids (California for one a few years back). and they are hell on other local wildlife and pets.

make nice fur trim on winter coats though.

Glockenspiel
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recently in west saint john there have been many pets gone missing and several sightings of 50-70 lbs coyotes, i hope deer season ends rather quickly for me so i can move on to gettin some fur.
 
Living in fear of coyotes

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1150781.html
Halifax, NS | Mon, November 2nd, 2009
​
Living in fear of coyotes

By PAT LEE Staff Reporter
Mon. Nov 2 - 4:46 AM

A few weeks ago, Keith Watters walked out his front door in his sock feet, only to come face to face with a coyote at the end of his driveway.

The Portuguese Cove resident thought the wild animal would take off as soon as it saw him, but it wasn’t until he tossed a handful of gravel in its direction that the coyote left the yard.

"He didn’t even run. He just turned and wandered away," Mr. Watters said Sunday.

About a week later, his wife Heather was looking out the window in the afternoon and she saw a coyote once again walking up their driveway.

RELATED
» Coyote attack: A tragedy and mystery

As well, about two weeks ago, several coyotes howled well into the night, so much so that residents were hollering at the animals to try to shut them up, he said.

The worst thing he has heard so far was a beagle being attacked and killed by a coyote about three days ago in nearby Ketch Harbour.

"That was right in the middle of the afternoon," Mr. Watters said. "There’s houses all around. It’s not like we’re in a remote area."

Like others, Mr. Watters and his family have been closely following the news about coyotes since 19-year-old Taylor Mitchell of Toronto was mauled to death while hiking alone on the Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park last Tuesday.

One animal was shot dead by police, but the other got away.

Mr. Watters said coyotes have always been around their neighbourhood, but he has never seen them as brazen as they appear to be now.

He said it’s disconcerting because his family lives in a fairly well-developed area and isn’t out in the middle of nowhere.

"This is the worst I’ve seen them and they seem to show no fear. Now my wife’s scared to walk. I’ll have to get her some bear spray or something."

He said his four young grandchildren aren’t allowed to play outside unattended.

"We can’t let them out in the yard by themselves. Oh my god, no. Not at all."

He said his sister called the Natural Resources Department about the seeming increase in coyote sightings and she was told it was because they were going after deer and cats in residential neighbourhoods.

Mr. Watters wonders if killing a few coyotes in the area might instil some fear in the others.

"What are you supposed to do? You can’t live in fear. We just have to make them stay back in the woods somehow."

( plee@herald.ca)
© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1150781.html
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Coyote wasn't diseased, tests show

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9013871.html
Halifax, NS | Mon, November 2nd, 2009
​
Coyote wasn't diseased, tests show


By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Mon. Nov 2 - 3:50 PM

LOUISBOURG — Experts have determined that a coyote believed to be involved in a shocking attack on a young hiker on a Cape Breton trail was neither diseased nor hungry.

Parks Canada staff tracked and destroyed a coyote last Tuesday, hours after Taylor Mitchell, a folksinger from Toronto, was mauled by two of the animals in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

» ALSO SEE: Living in fear of coyotes

The 19-year-old later died in a Halifax hospital.

The federal agency said the Atlantic Veterinary College has done tests on the coyote and preliminary results suggest it was involved in the attack on the Skyline Trail, which remained closed Monday.

``There's no evidence of rabies or other disease or any other physical element of the animal that might have led to this attack,'' said Chip Bird, a field unit superintendent with Parks Canada in Cape Breton.

Bird said the coyote was a 14-kilogram adult female in ``really healthy shape.'' There was also evidence that the coyote had food in its system.

``This was not a hungry or starving animal,'' he said.

There have been a number of theories as to why the coyotes attacked Mitchell as she hiked alone on the popular trail. Coyotes are considered shy animals that are typically fearful of humans.

Some experts have suggested the coyotes were young, inexperienced and unafraid of humans. Others have theorized the animals were diseased.

Bird said Parks Canada staff are talking to other wildlife experts in hopes of determining what happened.

Meanwhile, the search continues on the Skyline Trail and other trails nearby for the second coyote involved in the attack.

© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9013871.html
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Voice of the people: Coyote Attack

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Letters/1150767.html
Halifax, NS | Mon, November 2nd, 2009​
Voice of the people

Limited options

Having heard and read the news of the fatal coyote attack on a young visitor to our province, I think it is time to either close the Highlands park to all visitors or get rid of some of these animals before someone else is injured or killed.

Animal-rights people can say what they want, but a human life is more important than that of an animal hell-bent on attacking and killing people. If I ever see one around my camp, it will be killed. I will do it with no hesitation.

Gerald Harris, Halifax

Open season on coyotes

It’s time to get the guns out. It seems the coyote population has lost all fear of humans. We need to have an open season on these critters to instil some fear of being shot at or killed by humans.

George Presby, Red Islands

© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Letters/1150767.html
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galbraith_14 said:
recently in west saint john there have been many pets gone missing and several sightings of 50-70 lbs coyotes, i hope deer season ends rather quickly for me so i can move on to gettin some fur.
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it's not just the west side, trust me on that one

i live just off of bayside drive and they're here as well... enough so that i won't let the dogs outside alone
 
This should be about the right to CCW, not about (Don Quijote) coyote eradication.

There have been many comments on the Herald website about this issue. By and large they said one of two things: it's time to start killing coyotes, and; it isn't time to kill any coyotes.

Everybody seems to be missing the point. Everybody seems to think that this issue is about government making a decision to - or not to - cull coyotes.

No one seems to realize that this should be about personal responsibility and the right of a free human being to carry arms for her own self-defense - even within a park.
 
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"Bird said Parks Canada staff are talking to other wildlife experts in hopes of determining what happened."

They saw the girl and thought, we can take her,so they did

dan
 
More park patrols urged

...Fewer armed wardens may not necessarily mean less protection, but it should signal a need for more patrols, she said...


http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1151036.html
Halifax, NS | Wed, November 4th, 2009
​
More park patrols urged


By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton Bureau
Wed. Nov 4 - 4:46 AM

Wardens should do more patrols of hiking trails after the recent coyote attack in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, says a spokeswoman for the union representing Parks Canada employees.

One or two maintenance workers came across Taylor Mitchell, the 19-year-old singer-songwriter attacked by coyotes while hiking alone on the Skyline Trail on Oct. 27, Jeannie Baldwin said Tuesday.

Ms. Mitchell was airlifted to hospital in Halifax but died overnight from her injuries.

"They weren’t the first ones who came on-site, but they saw some of what happened," Ms. Baldwin said, adding that there were several hikers at the scene.

The employees are still coping with what they saw of the mauling and were not ready to speak with a reporter, she said.

"I think they’re still cut up with it all. Emotions are still fresh."

Park wardens who wanted to carry pistols had to have a psychological assessment last year after new rules were implemented in federal parks.

"So are there the same number of wardens that were armed a year ago? I don’t think so," Ms. Baldwin said.


Chip Bird, a Parks Canada superintendent, said Monday that wardens do have the option to carry pistols, while conservation specialists can carry rifles.

Late Monday, trackers were still searching for one of the two coyotes involved in the attack. A Parks Canada spokeswoman could not say Tuesday whether the other had been caught.

A necropsy on the dead coyote showed that it was neither hungry nor diseased. Park officials are still trying to understand what might have motivated the attack.

( lfraser@herald.ca)
© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1151036.html
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Coyote wasn’t hungry or sick

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1150909.html
Halifax, NS | Wed, November 4th, 2009​
Coyote wasn’t hungry or sick
Wild animal was in good health when it attacked Mitchell, necropsy shows

By LAURA FRASER Cape Breton Bureau
Tue. Nov 3 - 4:45 AM

Pathologists say that preliminary tests on one of the coyotes that killed a Toronto folksinger in Cape Breton last week found the animal’s aggression came from neither hunger nor disease.

"The pathologists confirmed that the animal was in good health," Chip Bird, a superintendent with Parks Canada, said of the results from the necropsy at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island.

"There is no evidence of physical injury, starvation or rabies."

Taylor Mitchell, 19, died after two wild coyotes attacked her while she was hiking alone in Cape Breton Highlands National Park last Tuesday. The singer-songwriter was airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Halifax but died overnight from several bite wounds.

Park wardens and conservation officers had expanded their search for the other coyote, Mr. Bird said Monday. They had not been able to find it, or its body, near the scene of the attack on the Skyline Trail.

An RCMP member reportedly shot the animal last Tuesday, but it hobbled off. Park officials could not say whether it left a blood trail that could be followed.

Trackers have started looking on the Fishing Cove and Benjies Lakes trails in the Cape Breton Highlands. They have spotted other animals, but none have shown aggression or a lack of fear of humans.

Mr. Bird could not say whether human food had been found in the coyote’s stomach. Feeding wild animals can cause them to lose their fear of people.

Anyone caught feeding wildlife in the park may be given a warning by a park ranger, but if the problem persists, someone could be fined or charged.

"A fed animal is a dead animal, because eventually they will get into trouble," Mr. Bird said.

Since Ms. Mitchell’s attack, Mr. Bird said that he has received calls from others who have had encounters with aggressive local coyotes.

Those stories and the recent tragedy will likely force Parks Canada to make some changes to the warnings they give the public about animals.

Signs now warn visitors about moose or bear, but Mr. Bird said that information about coyotes will also be given to the public.

The Skyline Trail stayed closed Monday. Mr. Bird could not say when it would reopen.

The RCMP could not be reached for comment.

( lfraser@herald.ca)
© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1150909.html
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samdunc said:
"Bird said Parks Canada staff are talking to other wildlife experts in hopes of determining what happened."

They saw the girl and thought, we can take her,so they did

dan
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That's crazy, nothing would try to eat us, I mean, we taste bad according to shark experts :rolleyes:

Eat or be eaten is ####ing rocket science apparently.
 
"Biologists baffled by attack" Thats because like most so called "Wildlife Experts" they cannot understand what "mother nature" designed a predatory carnivore to do. EAT MEAT + humans = MEAT (polar bears know that too) University educated idiots.....
 
'Aggressive' coyotes killed near attack site

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1151300.html
Halifax, NS | Fri, November 6th, 2009​
'Aggressive' coyotes killed near attack site

By TERA CAMUS Cape Breton Bureau
Fri. Nov 6 - 4:46 AM

SYDNEY — Two more coyotes were killed near the Skyline Trail, including the one believed to have gotten away after mauling a young Toronto woman to death last week.

Chip Bird, a Parks Canada field unit superintendent, told The Chronicle Herald Thursday that two staff members were on top of French Mountain Wednesday, near the spot where folksinger Taylor Mitchell, 19, was brutally attacked, when two coyotes emerged from the woods showing aggressive behaviour.

Coyotes are known for their fear of humans but these two showed none, which is "not normal," Mr. Bird said.

They were both shot.

When Cheticamp RCMP arrived at the scene last week they shot one of the two involved in the attack, but both got away. Parks Canada later tracked one and killed it the same day of the attack.

Ever since then they have been hunting for the second coyote inside the famed Cape Breton Highlands National Park and watching for animals in and around French Mountain on the outskirts of Cheticamp. Initially park officials said the coyote that was killed on the day of the attack was not the one shot by the RCMP, but on Wednesday they presented a different view of the events.

"We’re very certain the first one we got (last week) was the one the RCMP officer shot at," Mr. Bird said.

He was confident that one of the coyotes shot Wednesday was "involved in the attack because it returned to the exact site of the attack and was displaying territorial behaviour . . . marking, being aggressive, barking at staff that were there."

Both animals shot Wednesday were being aggressive toward park officers, Mr. Bird said.

Ms. Mitchell was memorialized in a Toronto service on Thursday. In lieu of flowers, her family requested that donations be made to the Toronto Wildlife Centre.

Mr. Bird said Parks Canada is aware that Ms. Mitchell’s mother, Emily Mitchell, wanted the hunt for the coyotes ended because the young folksinger was an avid lover of animals and the outdoors.

He said they were respecting her wishes.

( tcamus@herald.ca)
© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1151300.html
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Her mom wants the hunt stopped because her daughter loved animals??? Well the animals clearly loved her daughter....
 
Bounty no way to deal with coyotes: "biologist"

A biologist in Nova Scotia says a bounty is not an effective way to deal with the coyote population.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9014788.html
Halifax, NS | Fri, January 15th, 2010​
Bounty no way to deal with coyotes: biologist*

By THE CANADIAN PRESS
Wed. Jan 13 - 3:22 PM

PORT HAWKESBURY — A biologist* in Nova Scotia says a bounty is not an effective way to deal with the coyote population.

An increasing number of coyote sightings, particularly in Cape Breton, have prompted some people to express concern.

But Donnie Anderson, a biologist* with the Department of Natural Resources, says a previous bounty did nothing.

Anderson says that females tend to give birth to more offspring if the population gets low.

He adds that he hasn't noticed an increase in coyote numbers.

Inverness County Coun. Gloria LeBlanc says she wants to see a bounty in light of more frequent coyote sightings.

(*wildlife technician)

© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/9014788.html
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C.B. man has run-in with coyotes

Blair Boone was walking near his Sydney-area home at about 5:45 p.m. Saturday when three growling coyotes approached. "As soon as they came over, I made myself look bigger and put my arms up and started screaming and hollering," said Boone, a Cape Breton University student. The animals fled but returned 10 minutes later and surrounded him...
"I’m a big man, but they weren’t scared at all," Boone said.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1162424.html
Halifax, NS | Fri, January 15th, 2010​
C.B. man has run-in with coyotes
After scary encounter, he says a bounty is needed

By The Canadian Press
Fri. Jan 15 - 4:46 AM

SYDNEY — A Cape Breton man is calling for a return on a bounty for coyotes after two weekend encounters with the animals.

Blair Boone was walking near his Sydney-area home at about 5:45 p.m. Saturday when three growling coyotes approached.

"As soon as they came over, I made myself look bigger and put my arms up and started screaming and hollering," said Boone, a Cape Breton University student.

The animals fled but returned 10 minutes later and surrounded him.

He again started screaming, but this time the coyotes merely took a step back instead of fleeing.

"I’m a big man, but they weren’t scared at all," Boone said.

He said the coyotes fled again when a man came out of a nearby home to see what was happening.

Boone reported the incident to the provincial Natural Resources Department.

Because he believes his life was in danger, he thinks a bounty should be placed on the animals to protect the public.

Prompted by numerous complaints, Coun. Gloria LeBlanc made a similar request at Monday’s session of Inverness County council.

"The animals are there, they are being seen, they are tracking people," she said. "There have been a few seen right in the village of Cheticamp. That is scary.

"You tell people don’t walk in the woods, walk on the sidewalk, but there are coyotes in the village."

Stone Anderson, regional biologist for the Department of Natural Resources, said bounties have been tried unsuccessfully.

"The coyote will adapt," he said. "The female will have young based on conditions. If there is lots of food, she will have more young. If there are not many coyotes in the area she will have more young."

He said recent sightings in the highlands could be attributed to heavy snow.

"At this time of year coyotes tend to come down from the higher elevations," said Anderson.

Another provincial biologist agreed that a bounty is not an effective way to deal with the coyote population.

Although an increasing number of coyote sightings, particularly in Cape Breton, have prompted some people to express concern, Donnie Anderson of the Department of Natural Resources points out that a previous bounty did nothing.

Anderson echoed Anderson’s view that females tend to give birth to more offspring if the population gets low.

He added that he hasn’t noticed an increase in coyote numbers.

There have been calls from some for a bounty since Taylor Mitchell, 19, of Toronto was killed by coyotes while hiking in Cape Breton Highland National Park last fall.

© 2009 The Halifax Herald Limited
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1162424.html
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Coyote Bounty....

"....if it saves just one life..."

A bounty would help make them afraid of us again.

Regarding the increased litter size, I'm so tired of hearing that one, much like global warming, everyone just repeats it.

If a sheep farmer sees a coyote in his field do you think he won't shoot it because there might be an extra pup next spring?
 
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