http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1150025.htmlAs I noted earlier. These coyotes are more Wolf then Coyote according to DNA genetics testing. 25 kilograms or 50 lbs of ravenous hunger on four legs.
Biologists baffled by attack
By IAN FAIRCLOUGH and EVA HOARE Staff Reporters
Thu. Oct 29 - 4:46 AM
[Coyotes are typically shy and elusive, and tend to run away rather than attack humans, wildlife experts says.(AP)</p>]
Coyotes are typically shy and elusive, and tend to run away rather than attack humans, wildlife experts says.(AP)
COYOTES IN NOVA SCOTIA:
As coyotes spread eastward across North America they mixed with the red or eastern wolf, says wildlife biologist Jon Way. That created a cross that he calls a coywolf. DNA studies show that all the animals in the eastern part of Canada and the United States have wolf as part of their genetic makeup. The animals here are about five kilograms heavier on average than the coyote of the western part of the continent, weighing 16 kilograms with males sometimes reaching 25 kilograms.
•First recorded in Nova Scotia in 1977
•Coyotes often mate for life, and have five to seven pups in late April
•Top speed of 55 km/h, and can bound five metres
•Main prey is snowshoe hares and white-tailed deer, either live or dead. They also eat insects, blueberries, apples, mice, porcupines, woodchucks and garbage
Source: Nova Scotia Department
of Natural Resources
The coyote attack Tuesday that killed Taylor Mitchell is rare on many levels, say wildlife scientists, including one who studied the animals in Nova Scotia for four years.
"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.
Jon Way, who runs Eastern Coyote Research in Massachusetts and has studied the animals for 12 years, says the fact a human was attacked is rare enough, but other elements make it even more so.
"I don’t think they regard people, even kids, as an opportunity for a food source, so this is certainly an abnormal attack," Mr. Way said. "They certainly are not like (big) cats that regard people as food, they just don’t do that."
The fact the incident happened in a sparsely populated area is also curious because coyotes tend to run at the first sign of humans in the wild, he said.
His studies in eastern Massachusetts involve animals that have a lot of interaction with humans because of heavy development.
"There are certainly interactions, but by and large the danger from these guys is at the bottom of the radar screen of dangerous things in your neighbourhood," Mr. Way said, adding this attack is "certainly a puzzle."
Mr. Patterson agreed. "It’s very rare for coyotes to attack a healthy adult."
He doubted that either animal involved in the attack was diseased because if they were sick, it would be unlikely the two would travel together.
An ill coyote generally "snaps" at others and "retreats," he said.
Rabies is a possibility, Mr. Way said, but two coyotes being involved in the mauling makes him question that.
"The first thing I thought with two animals is ‘wow, that’s bizarre,’ which is why I’m a little nervous to say ‘yeah, it’s a sick animal,’ " he said.
Mr. Patterson said it’s important to find out whether there has been any "habituation" of the creatures; in other words, people feeding the animals that has led them to lose their fear of humans.
The fear needs to be put back into them, said the scientist. Authorities should be checking whether there have been any instances of people handing or putting out food for the animals. And any carcasses authorities find should also be examined to see if food scraps are found among stomach contents, he said.
"Overall the habituation factor is something to avoid, because then all of a sudden they start to associate humans with food," Mr. Way said. "An animal might be having a bad day, and if it’s used to getting food might get (annoyed) if it can’t find any."
But it would take a lot of interaction between coyotes and people before humans would be regarded as prey, he said.
"I really question if they were looking at her as food. This has never happened before, so it would take a lot more interaction for any type of coyote . . . to think of people as food.
"These animals have lived around people in the northeast (United States) for 75 years, and if they wanted to attack people, it could happen anywhere at any time."
Mr. Way has never seen coyotes guard a food source or den from humans, and at this time of year pups are out of the den anyway. Habituated animals in urban areas could attack if they were trying to protect a food source, or if they felt cornered, he said.
Mr. Patterson, who tracked coyotes here from 1993 to ’97, said autumn is the worst time for them and they’re generally the skinniest at this time. Their populations usually rise and fall with the prevalence of snowshoe hares, their primary food source.
Until Tuesday’s attack, there had only been one other recorded human death in North America from a coyote attack. That was in 1981 when a three-year-old girl was attacked in her yard in California, where attacks in suburban areas have increased in the past decade.
Mr. Way has spent 12 years tracking 50 animals that are wearing radio collars.
"I get on my hands and knees trying to get close to observe them, to get video and pictures, and the first thing that happens, when any of them smell me or sense me, is they run in the opposite direction, even if they don’t quite know what I am," he said.
"They overall do a pretty amazing job of avoiding us. There are very few animals in most areas that are seen as problems that might attack people."
Both he and Mr. Patterson said it’s obviously best to observe any such animal from a safe distance.
If they are acting bold or aggressive and approaching you, clap your hands, make yourself appear as big as possible, or throw rocks to get them to go the other way, the scientists said.
As you would with bears, do not turn your back on the animal, Mr. Patterson said. Back away and "don’t take your eyes off the animal," he said.
He said to be mindful of certain cues the animal will give, including a bristling of the hair at the shoulders and obviously growls.
"You’ll know it when you see it."