Coyotes

[spider solo]

That is a real shocker....I feal really sorry for her and her friends and family.
That has to be one of the last places I ever would have thought something like that would happen.

 

[DougPaul]

Very sad. The stuff legitimate nightmares are made of. Our eastern coyote is a DNA mix of western coyote and red wolf. I wonder if, in that part of North America, they might be mostly red wolf, which would make this somewhat easier to understand.

I asked my wildlife biologist brother about a report of Adirondack coyotes hunting deer in packs and he told me that in the absence of wolves in the NE, coyotes have been moving into the wolf niche.

I have also heard/read a comment that when wolves are present, coyotes shift into a "traditional" coyote role (smaller bodies, solitary or mated pair hunting). In their absence, coyotes will shift into a more wolf-like role (larger bodies, hunting in packs). Sorry, don't remember the source.

Doug

 

[Chip]

Officers with the RCMP detachment in Cheticamp, N.S., responded to a 911 call placed around 3:15 p.m. yesterday. When they arrived on Skyline Trail, a popular hiking route in the park, they found two coyotes attacking the young hiker.

... The 911 call was placed by another hiker who stumbled upon the attack while it was in progress.

What the flock did the other hiker do ? Walk away after the 911 call ?
This is horrible. That attack had to have gone on for like half an hour, at least.

 

[sardog1]

Previous coyote thread

We had a previous coyote thread on VFTT that is worth looking at in the context of this fatal attack.

 

[Mike P.]

Had a neighbor's dog attacked outside their house in Colchester CT. With deer getting into the breeding season, it may make sense for Coyotes to become more active, especially if they are are not solitary.

Children & even petite females (similar to Cat attackes out west) may need to rethinlk solo activities. Coyote cookbook anyone

 

[nietzschescat]

coyotes/cape breton island np

I've hiked on the trail where the young girl was killed. It's not a remote place in the park beyond the fact that the park itself is remote. It was kind of an easy trail along a knife edge kind of ridge looking down at the ocean. It's a beautiful place and there were lots of other hikers. The day we were there we saw a deer so close that I could see the fur (not really the word I want) on it's antlers.

There have been coyotes howling in the woods near every place I've ever lived and I've only rarely seen them.

 

[Chip]

Coyote cookbook anyone

"Wok the Dog" ?

 

[erugs]

Even if the percentage of wolf to coyote ratio is higher on the wolf end, how often do wolves attack humans? From what I have learned, it is rare to never.

This is a sad story and yet it would be interesting to know more of the details. Did anyone track down the coyotes involved?

 

[beverly]

Even if the percentage of wolf to coyote ratio is higher on the wolf end, how often do wolves attack humans? From what I have learned, it is rare to never.

This is a sad story and yet it would be interesting to know more of the details. Did anyone track down the coyotes involved?

The park staff found and killed one coyote and at last report were continuing their search for a second one. Coyote attacks are very rare and authorities are investigating why this attack occurred. Park superintendent Helen Robichaud offered some possibilities — that the animals were defending a food source or that they might have been ill.

In Chronicle Herald.ca, Jon Way, who runs Eastern Coyote Research in Massachusetts and has studied the animals for 12 years, said that he doubted that rabies was involved because two animals were traveling together. He, as other experts, is perplexed by this recent attack.

http://www.examiner.com/x-11423-Bay-Area-Hiking-Examiner~y2009m10d29-Canadian-hiker-dies-after-coyote-attack#comments

"This event is unprecedented," said Brent Patterson, who followed radio-collared coyotes in Kejimkujik National Park and River Denys, Cape Breton, in the 1990s as part of his master’s degree research.

"It’s very atypical of coyotes anywhere. We may at the end of all of this, despite any investigation, never have the answer as to why this happened," said Mr. Patterson, who’s an adjunct professor at Trent University in Ontario.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1150025.html

They don't think the coyotes were diseased, because they would be unlikely to travel together if ill. The only other reported fatality was from an attack in California in 1981 involving a 3yr old.

 

[DrewKnight]

Halloween Coyote...

I was out doing errands with my family early last Saturday afternoon, driving along a back road in Holderness, NH... looked off to the right and saw a gorgeous, big, healthy coyote standing out in the middle of a field (next to a horse pasture, but this field didn't appear to be in use). He was out about 30 yards in the open, and maybe 40 yards down the hill off the road.

He was "keen", focused intently on something up the hill. I looked forward and there was a young boxer standing in the road -- nice, fit guy, maybe 50 lbs, looking down the hill intently at the coyote... much to my surprise, a few seconds later the boxer took off like he was shot from a cannon and went after b'rer coyote, who was easily as big... the boxer went ripping across the field and the coyote took off for the trees.

Interesting... I guess a lone coyote exercises real discretion in this kind of engagement. Anyway -- it was a cool chance encounter and I was glad the kids got to see him.

 

[Chip]

... much to my surprise, a few seconds later the boxer took off like he was shot from a cannon and went after b'rer coyote, who was easily as big... the boxer went ripping across the field and the coyote took off for the trees.

There's stories/urban legands that a lone coyote like that will bait a pet dog into the woods, where the rest of the coyote pack waits in ambush. I don't know if it's true, but it sounds possible.

 

[erugs]

Here

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs...nd-death-canadian-folk-singer-taylor-mitchell

is an interesting blog. I have wondered why the people who called for ranger assistance didn't do more to help Taylor. Or maybe they did and it hasn't been reported. I don't know that I could stand back and listen to an attack and not do anything, but a good friend and I were talking about the attack while hiking on Sunday and she said she didn't know that she would be able to put herself in harm's way in such a situation. Let's hope we don't have to test ourselves that way.

 

[Taconic]

I see coyotes a lot, but hear them more. Nearly every night a dozen of them or so have howled from somewhere nearby for about a year now. Strangely, it sounds like it's coming from the direction of town rather than the woods.

I do a lot of walking at night and I don't worry about them at all. Every coyote I've ever seen has taken off at the first sight me. I'm more worried about local dogs that people don't bother tying up--I've actually been attacked by those.

 

[forestgnome]

Great thread! My guess about the poor person who was killed is that there is nothing unnatural to analize, just a natural occurance of a couple of hungry predators seeing a meal and going for it. Although highly unusual, I don't think there's any more to it than that. It's very, very sad for that poor person. How horrible that is.

We've removed the wolves, which were much more likely to hunt people.

No way to know what caused the death of this bull but it is highly unlikely it was a hunter because I found this on November 7th, three weeks after the NH moose hunt, and he was about 2 miles from the nearest trail, then 3 more miles to a road. This was in Even's Notch.

The tracks around the carcass are all coyote, exept for a very small print. I wish I took better pics of the prints Rigor had not set in, so I don't think it was very long since he died.

 

[sardog1]

No way to know what caused the death of this bull but it is highly unlikely it was a hunter because I found this on November 7th, three weeks after the NH moose hunt, and he was about 2 miles from the nearest trail, then 3 more miles to a road. This was in Even's Notch.

The tracks around the carcass are all coyote, exept for a very small print. I wish I took better pics of the prints Rigor had not set in, so I don't think it was very long since he died.

Actually, it could have been a hunter who made a poor shot. A gut-shot animal will take quite a while to die, for instance. A moose that had been hit somewhere other than the preferred heart/lungs area could have traveled some distance and survived for some time before succumbing. You may not have seen any evidence of the gunshot wound or broadhead wound because of the work the coyotes did on the carcass. Coyotes are not capable of bringing down a bull, even an injured one, but they are capable of waiting one out that appears vulnerable.

 

[forestgnome]

Keith, I really do wonder about the ability of the modern Eastern Coyote. They are bigger and more aggressive than people have been used to in the past. I wouldn't guess that coyotes are now taking down moose, but I definately will not agree that it's not possible. Things change, and although it may never have been witnessed, I'm not sure.

I saw a similar scene last November at around 3,000' on Big Bickford Mtn., just north of Mt. Lafayette. A huge dead bull with antlers that looked like those of a healthy animal. Shortly after, heading down, I saw a beautiful coyote close up. He was heading right for the carcass. He was probably one of those responsible for eating the moose, but what brought the moose down? What are the odds of anyone witnessing this if it were to happen?

I won't be surprised if one day we see convincing evidence that they can take larger animals than we expect.

Of corse, it's possible in both of these cases they were hit by hunters and then lived for three weeks and travelled miles, but it seems unlikely. Of corse, there are other causes of death.

Interesting food for thought. Your expert input is well respected.

happy autumn

 

[Sheomet]

The right antler on that moose is significantly smaller than the left side, that makes me think that the moose might have had an injury on it's left side earlier in the year.

 

[brianW]

How different is the genetic make up of coyotes vs. wolves? My understanding is that when the mate together they do have fertile off spring (same with domestic dogs)

 

[Tom Rankin]

How different is the genetic make up of coyotes vs. wolves? My understanding is that when the mate together they do have fertile off spring (same with domestic dogs)

I thought I read that dogs are in fact just domesticated wolves.

 

[Chip]

I thought I read that dogs are in fact just domesticated wolves.

This is the recent, classic study with fox, really interesting and suggests that only several generations of selective breeding (as opposed to 100's or 1000's) could have separated the wolf from the domesticated dog. You could certainly imagine this happening some time ago. An interesting point in a related article is they suggest house cats were never "domesticated", they were only attracted to us by the mice that we attract. Yum.

How different is the genetic make up of coyotes vs. wolves?

From what I've seen the Eastern Coyote is a DNA mix of Red Wolf and Western Coyote and should be it's own species. Wolf and Coyote can breed and produce fertile offspring. That may be true with dogs, also, but that's not the DNA of Eastern Coyote.