Attacked Coyotes

[Tony Cooney]

A coyote attack in Nova Scotia this week is fueling demands for a bounty on the animals, which began when a Toronto folk singer was killed by coyotes last fall.

Sue Sinclair was attacked by a coyote Thursday morning in Maitland, N.S., a community about 100 kilometres southwest of Halifax. The incident happened near a bridge popular among both locals and tourists for viewing tidal bores.

Sinclair was standing near the tourist centre at the Gosse Bridge when a coyote approached and attacked her.

"It came at me and grabbed a hold of my leg," Sinclair, told CTV Atlantic. "It didn't get a good lock on it and I kicked it away."

"I yelled. I tried to be as aggressive as I could."

The bite did not break the skin and Sinclair says her leg is bruised. She says the animal should be put down.

"My biggest concern is that it was so aggressive," she said. "If a younger person or a smaller person was out here, they could really be hurt."

Nova Scotia Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell was briefed Thursday night on the incident.

There have been calls for a coyote bounty or cull since last fall, when Toronto folk musician Taylor Mitchell was killed by a pack of coyotes in a Cape Breton park. Mitchell, 19, was taken to hospital after she was attacked by a pack of coyotes while hiking alone in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

She was in Nova Scotia to begin a concert tour of the East Coast.

MacDonell told CTV he is not ruling out a bounty on coyotes in the province, and has asked his staff to look into the idea and speak to officials in Saskatchewan, which implemented a coyote bounty in November.

But MacDonnell says there are still a number of questions that need to be answered before making a decision, such as whether a bounty would make it possible to "eradicate the problem coyotes."

Earlier this week, local media reported that a Cape Breton innkeeper recently found a bloody coyote carcass strung up in front of a stone marking the inn's address.

Earlene Busch believes the carcass could be connected to a letter she wrote to the Cape Breton Post last November defending coyotes. Her letter was a response to mounting calls for a coyote cull.

[Tony Cooney]

An aggressive coyote attacked a meter reader with Nova Scotia Power Friday morning in the Spryfield area of Halifax.

The man walked around a building at a farm museum in an urban area on Rockingstone Road in Spryfield to find one adult coyote and two younger animals, the Department of Natural Resources said in a release.

The adult coyote leaped up and bit the man on the arm. He was wearing a bulky winter jacket, so the bite did not go through to his arm.

NSP spokesman Steve Pothier said a man walking his German shepherd dog saw the attack. The passerby unleashed his dog, which chased the coyote and her pups away.

"The key for us is that our employee was uninjured," he said.

Pothier said the meter reader was back on the job by the afternoon.

"He was uninjured and willing and able to go back to work," he said.

The incident took place just a block away from an elementary and junior high school, and children walk by the area every day on their way to and from school.

Mike Boudreau, human-wildlife conflict biologist with the department, said a trapper will be sent to the property.

Since the province's coyote trapping program started, he said, DNR officers have been called to more than a dozen cases of coyotes coming into conflict with humans.

He said people should be aware that the animals are likely just looking for food. Boudreau said compost bins should be kept covered. He also said coyotes can be attracted to an area by the presence of outdoor pets and fruit that is on the ground, even if it's covered by snow.

Earlier this week, a coyote was spotted near an elementary school in Halifax's Clayton Park area.

[Tony Cooney]

Coyotes can be found in rural and urban area across Canada. They often shy away from humans, but if one does approach, here's what to do:

•  Be aggressive yourself: Wave your arms, stomp and yell loudly in a deep voice to deter it from coming closer.
•  Stand your ground: Stay where you are and look it in the eye. Never run away; it is more likely to consider you prey, give chase and seriously harm you.
•  Be prepared: The best defence is a good offence; carry a whistle, flashlight and/or personal alarm. This is especially important for small children who play outside or walk to school in areas where coyotes have been spotted.
•   Stay together: If you are walking in an area that has high coyote activity, never do so without a companion.
•  Don't lure them with food: Coyotes are scavengers. If you have pets, feed them inside the house rather than leaving food outside, don’t leave meat scraps or products in compost buckets outside your house, keep regular compost in an enclosed area and ensure garbage bins have tight resealable lids to keep out animals.
 
Coyote in Nova Scotia attacks sleeping girl, bites her head
Comments Twitter LinkedIn Digg Buzz Email .Cory Ruf  August 10, 2010 – 12:15 pm

INGONISH, N.S. — A teenage girl was bitten by a coyote early Monday morning in the same Cape Breton national park where a young woman was killed by the animals last year.

Derek Quann, a resource conservation manager, said the 16-year-old girl, who was visiting Broad Cove campgrounds in Cape Breton Highlands National Park with family members, was in a sleeping bag outside a nearby tent when the coyote attacked shortly after 4 a.m.

“She was awakened by the sensation of pain,” Mr. Quann said of the teen who received two bite wounds to the scalp. “She shouted and struck the animal and it moved away.”

A middle-aged female leaving a nearby washroom witnessed the animal flee and identified it as a coyote.