On the 27th of October, 2009
folk singer Taylor Mitchell was in the middle
of a solo concert tour of the maritime provinces of Canada.
During downtime between two concerts she decided to go walking
on the Cape Breton Highlands National Park Skyline Trail.
This walk in the woods, however, ended up costing
Taylor Mitchell her life.
Among the last people to see Taylor alive were an American couple
who passed her near the beginning of the Skyline Trail
at 2:45pm.
The couple were going in the opposite direction to Taylor,
heading back down an access road towards the car park.
While on this access road they spotted a pair of coyotes
walking towards them along the middle of the track, displaying
an extraordinary lack of fear. The American couple moved aside and
waited for the coyotes to pass. The animals did so, slinking off towards
the Skyline Trail. Just six minutes later the couple heard
a disturbing sound: animal cries, mixed with human screams.
These sounds were coming from the direction of the trail,
the direction in which the coyotes had disappeared,
the direction where Taylor had last been seen.
The couple returned quickly to the car park and used the phone there to call
for help. As they were doing so a new group of four hikers arrived at
the car park. The couple informed them of what they
had heard and the four hikers set off up the access road towards the
trail. The first things they found were
Taylor's scattered possessions. Then they happened upon a trail of blood
and torn clothing. Finally they came to a washroom with a
large pool of blood at the door. Taylor lay in a nearby clearing with one
coyote still standing over her, apparently unafraid.
The group of four hikers charged the coyotes several times before it relented
and slunk away from Taylor. Even then it remained close by until a member of
the Mounted Polica arrived and fired a shotgun in its direction, at
which point it fled.
Taylor was rushed to a local health center and then airlifted to hospital.
She'd lost an extraordinary amount of blood and was barely conscious.
There were bites all over her body, including particularly serious wounds on
her legs and head. Although she was alive and conscious
when she was discovered, she did not survive her injuries.
Thus it was that Taylor Mitchell became the victim
of the only known fatal coyote attack on a human
ever to have taken place in Canada.
Taylor's mother, who knew of her daughter's love for nature and wild
things, issued a statement pleading for
restraint. Taylor, she noted, would not have wanted
any coyotes to be killed as a result of what happened to her.
"We take a calculated risk," she said, "when spending time
"in nature's fold."
Despite this plea several coyotes were killed by park officials during the next
month, including one female that was acting
aggressively. Three of the five animals killed were
connected to the attack on Taylor by traces of blood on their coats and
other forensic evidence. It was noted that the coyotes killed
were extremely aggressive.
Since the death of Taylor Mitchell attacks by coyotes on humans
have been few and far between... but they do still occur -
reminders, each and every one, of the unpredictable nature of wild
animals.