A 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto has died after being attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Taylor Mitchell died overnight at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax. Mitchell was hiking on the Skyline Trail when she was attacked Tuesday afternoon. She was taken to the hospital in Cheticamp, then airlifted to Halifax in critical condition.
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Mitchell was hiking on the Skyline Trail when she was attacked Tuesday afternoon. She was taken to the hospital in Cheticamp, then airlifted to Halifax in critical condition.
Park superintendent Helene Robichaud said Mitchell was walking the trail alone.
She said other hikers managed to scare off the coyotes and call 911.
An RCMP officer shot at one of the animals, but couldn't find the body. Robichaud said park staff put down a coyote overnight and were looking for a second one.
"We're continuing our exercise on the trail," she told CBC News on Wednesday morning.
Bob Bancroft, a retired biologist with the Department of Natural Resources, said this kind of attack is extremely rare and he's never heard of such a serious case in Nova Scotia.
Rare attack
He said coyotes, which are normally up to 50 pounds, are usually very shy, though they can be bold.
"In situations like a national park [where] usually there's no hunting and no trapping allowed, they can get used to a human presence and not have much fear of any retribution," Bancroft told CBC News.
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"It could be protecting a sick animal … protecting a food source or something of that nature. But that's what we're trying to determine right now and we've been doing that since the start of this," she said.
It's unclear what happened in the woods on Tuesday.
Bancroft said coyotes team up to take down deer. He said it's possible the hiker didn't even realize what was happening.
"They may have snuck up on her and knocked her over before she even knew what happened," he said. "They may have been youngsters. They just may not have had a lot of experience or they may have just capitalized on a situation where a young person was acting vulnerable and very frightened by their presence."
He said there's a slight possibility that the animals had rabies.
Bancroft had his own run-in with a coyote several years ago when he was alone in the woods.
"A coyote came straight at me. It happened very, very quickly. It stopped and I just stood my ground, I didn't act," he said. "It actually regrouped and charged again. And I think the fact that I didn't act like a prey item convinced it to leave me alone."
Bancroft advises hikers to be alert and leave their iPods at home. He also suggests carrying a knife.
The Skyline Trail, one of the most popular trails in the park, has been closed and barricaded.
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