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 The tragic coyote attack on October 27th that took the life of 19-year-old Taylor Mitchell—at Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia—has caused a stir around the world. Coyotes are known to be opportunistic, cunning animals that will eat nearly anything, but until now, that didn't include humans. Biologists are scratching their collective heads, trying to find some reason for the bizarre behavior of at least two apparently healthy coyotes that attacked Mitchell. Like many other outdoors people, I am confronted by the reality that I have been just as vulnerable as Mitchell—hundreds, if not thousands of times. What does it all mean? Should we suddenly add coyotes to things we fear in the world?
I don't think so. Coyotes have a very long history of interaction with humans, dating back thousands of years. The coyote appears often in Native American mythology, sometimes as the slightly sinister trickster, but never to my knowledge as a truly dangerous force as do bears and jaguars. In modern times they have been known to attack house cats and small dogs, particularly in suburban areas, but the only attacks on humans have been by coyotes habituated to people and that therefore had lost their fear, or by sick and starving coyotes. If the coyotes that killed Mitchell were healthy, wild coyotes, as they seem to have been (at least one has been killed and examined by veterinarians), it presents an entirely new situation, but that doesn't change the weight of thousands of years of human safety around coyotes.
However, if I were a coyote, I'd be a little extra afraid of humans right about now. The coyotes' habit of killing livestock, pets and even deer (which humans apparently want to claim the exclusive right to kill) has brought down upon them the full wrath of humankind. Poison, traps, aerial gunning, TNT and even less-savory methods have been tried to find the most effective way to kill the most coyotes. We can now expect a full campaign to liquidate even more—this time in the name of human safety.
Undeniably, coyotes should be considered dangerous. As their population has expanded eastward, filling in ecological gaps left by exterminated wolves, coyotes have taken on many traits of their larger cousins. They have grown larger than western coyotes and seem to employ much more cooperation in the hunt. Today there are many times more coyotes than there ever were historically, and their success at living among people in suburban and even urban areas inevitably leads to more interaction between our two species.
Researchers from Cornell University are in the midst of a five-year study to figure out why coyotes have become more aggressive recently. Still, it must be pointed out that it is safer to live among coyotes than to drive a car, take a shower, use a power drill, go hunting for coyotes, ride a roller coaster or shovel the driveway after a blizzard.
I am not opposed to hunting coyotes. For those who go with the right frame of mind (i.e., respect for their prey rather than hatred), coyotes are a worthy challenge—and there certainly are plenty of them, so the population is in no danger. I also believe that hunting instills in the survivors a little healthy fear of humans that may go a long way to avoiding a repeat of the lamentable attack in Nova Scotia. National parks, where hunting is often forbidden, are among the most likely places for coyotes to lose their innate caution. Still, let’s keep in mind that it is much more dangerous to be a coyote among humans than a human among coyotes.
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Rich Bard is a wildlife biologist who began his career as a zookeeper. Having spent most of his adult life moving around the country working with various wild animals, he settled near the coast of Maine in 2004. Amid the striking beauty of this remote region, he passes the time with his family, hiking, snowshoeing, gardening and watching the tide ebb and flow.
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