Coyotes kill woman on hike in Canadian park

[Malthus]

Coyotes maul folksinger? Woah, now that was some biting criticism.

Seriously though, that's about as weird as being mauled to death by raccoons. I've seen coyotes dozens of times - they are quite common in this part of the world, and generally considered totally harmless (well, harmless to adults - as with any wild animal, you gotta watch out for the kiddies; and they will eat cats and little yapper dogs).

[Malthus]

This strikes me as utter bullshit:

Bancroft, a retired biologist with Nova Scotia's Department of Natural Resources, said it's possible the coyotes thought Mitchell was a deer or other prey.

Sure they thought she was "prey"; no way did they mistake her for a deer. 

[Eddie Teach]

the local semi-feral cats Meow Machine and MeanCat. 

You have a gift for names.

[Josephus]

A folk singer whose last name is Mitchell, Canadian even, gets mauled by a coyote.

Song's been done before, sorry miss.

I looked a Coyote right in the face
On the road to Baljennie near my old home town.
He went runnin' through the whisker wheat
Chasing some prize down.
And a hawk was playing with him.
Coyote was jumping straight up and making passes.
He had those same eyes just like yours -
Under your dark glasses,
Privately probing the public rooms,
Peeking through keyholes in numbered doors
Where the players lick their wounds,
And take their temporary lovers
And their pills and powders to get them through this passion play.
No regrets, Coyote,
I just get off up away.
You just picked up a hitcher,
A prisoner of the white lines on the freeway.---Joni Mitchell

[KRonn]

Yeah, I remember reading an article a few years back that coyotes had returned to Mass., but I never saw or heard one there.  They're all over the place here, though.  I suspect they have something to do with the recent unexplained disappearance of the local semi-feral cats Meow Machine and MeanCat. 

They're all over the place here in Massachusetts. I've never seen one, or not sure if it was a coyote or not. But I notice a lot fewer small animals in the neighborhood - squirrels, rabbits, skunks, so I've assumed that coyotes were taking some toll on those. One of my neighbors has seen a coyote on our street at night, and other town residents have seen them. I've had friends in other towns who have seen them also.

[viper37]

Seriously though, that's about as weird as being mauled to death by raccoons. I've seen coyotes dozens of times - they are quite common in this part of the world, and generally considered totally harmless (well, harmless to adults - as with any wild animal, you gotta watch out for the kiddies; and they will eat cats and little yapper dogs).

same here.  Seen coyotes a few times, heard them more often.  They usually flee from us.

This strikes me as utter bullshit:
Sure they thought she was "prey"; no way did they mistake her for a deer. 

Maybe a baby deer

Actually, I think these animals have a good sense of smell, so it's highly unlikely they thought she was something else than human.  Most likely, the animals were starving, for one reason or another.

[Malthus]

Actually, I think these animals have a good sense of smell, so it's highly unlikely they thought she was something else than human.  Most likely, the animals were starving, for one reason or another.

Yup, my impression is that they have excellent senses - good eyesight as well as sense of smell - and they are generally considered pretty clever animals. No way would they "mistake" a person for a deer.

The reason why coyotes don't generally attack people is because they are smart enough to fear the consequenses - generally, being hunted down and killed. Coyotes are very aware that humans are top predators. They can live right next to people and hide well enough that you will rarely see them.

However, some animals, like some people, are just psycho. You get the occasional one who thinks they can go for it. It's pretty damn rare though.

[Caliga]

the local semi-feral cats Meow Machine and MeanCat. 

You have a gift for names.

Meow Machine literally used to meow nonstop as soon as s/he'd see me.  Very friendly little critter.  MeanCat, due to the nature of its coat (a grayish tabby pattern) always had a mean look on its face, but wasn't actually mean.

[Barrister]

Plenty of coyotes around here - see 'em on the road (the Alaska Highway) every once in a while on my way to work.  But then we have lots of everything up here. 

[Razgovory]

Probably thought she was a vampire or something.

[DisturbedPervert]

Damn.  Why couldn't it have been a fat chick? 

[DisturbedPervert]

There were tons of coyotes where I grew up, but the only thing they ate was cats

[crazy canuck]

Makes me wonder whether these were actually coyotes. 

Police who were in the area reached the scene quickly and shot one of the animals, apparently wounding it. But the wounded animal and a companion coyote managed to get away.

[Caliga]

Yeah.  It's very hard for me to imagine a coyote being able to kill an adult even if it wanted to.  A few months ago I saw a YouTube video that was called something like "I feed a sandwich to a really tame coyote at a truck stop" and the animal on the video was, as far as I could tell, a red wolf.

[Maximus]

Coyotes are scavengers and small game hunters. As far as I'm aware it is very unusual for them to even attack something as large as a deer unless it's sick/wounded.