Folk singer killed by coyotes

boo hiss

wetdog, coyotes do sometimes hunt in packs. they kill calves, sheep, dogs. our neighbor had a large dog that was torn to shreds by a pack.

why you find feral dogs more believable than coyotes just proves my point that peoplehave lost touch with nature and see it thru "Disney eyes"

Because domesticated dogs BECAME domesticated because they have a strong pack instinct. Coyotes do not.

I see it everyday. It is WHY I can train domesticated dogs. A majority of the training problems I've handled over the years relate to humans not understanding Alpha and pack order-----they have let the dog become the Alpha.

--------"why you find feral dogs more believable than coyotes just proves my point that peoplehave lost touch with nature and see it thru "Disney eyes" "--------

I think feral domestic dogs are more believable because of my experience training and handling both schutzhund(Doberman and German Shepherds) and hunting breeds(Weimaraners).

You are pretty quick to jump at a conclussion.

hey, didn't you get the message that 'yotes are only scavengers? apparently they don't actually KILL. they are the Boy Scouts of the predatory world.

you think? maybe they were angry about global warming?

coyotes usually don't attack humans, but ladies, please don't be stupid. if you go into the woods, take a weapon. At the very least a hiking pole, a hunting knife, a gun or bear spray.

I'm so tired of seeing naive people head into the wilderness unprepared.

you folks have noticed that the first 4 letters of wilderness spell WILD? not like Captain Morgan wild, like "I was eaten by coyotes" wild.

I'm a 200 lb male and I've had idiot liberal fools mock me because I always carry a hiking stick and a gun when I hike in wilderness. "are you scared or something?"

No, dummy, I'm prepared. I've come across puma kills, bear tracks, coyotes, had lions track me, people, don't be stupid. Take your hikes, but be prepared to defend yourself.

Besides, even if it isn't coyotes or lions or bears, there are bad people on the trails too.

yeah im reminded of joe rogans bit on the wilderness and nature.

Apparently not immediately blaming those wild, savage coyotes makes you a naive hippy.

They're scavengers for christ's sake, if you don't think this is unusual then YOU know nothing about nature curtis.

This happens about as often as nonrabid raccoons ganging up on people.

How, exactly, do we find the coyotes responsible for this anyway? Do we question coyotes in the area to see if they have any knowledge of the event, maybe track it down to the pack believed to have the ones in it that did this and then split them up for interrogation? Really? How do they find the coyotes that actually did it?

that's sick. funny, but sick.

Yeah, being bitten into and torn to shreds, still totally alive and just blood poring from all those punctures and rips in your flesh, as they tugged and loosed their grip to bite down again and pull flesh off the bone... This is funny stuff. I'm sure she really saw the humor in this. Come on guys...

yeah, cause dark humor is just so uncool.
I'll say 50 Hail Mary's and sing Kumbaya while I throw seed to the birdies.

yes indeed, someone who sounds like he knows something about these varmints.

its funny hearing these city slickers opining about nature.

long and short of it, she got killed by being a naive empty headed broad who headed into real wilderness without a way of defending herself.

Really Curtis? She got killed by being a naive, empty headed broad? It had nothing to do with being extraordinarily unlucky or being attacked by six wild animals?

Make sure you tell that to her family's face with the same conviction.

@ Chasing, Coyotes are scavengers, not hunters. Comparing them to a timber wolf attack, while logical, is making quite a number of assumptions. They don't typically hunt something far larger than themselves because, well, they're pretty wimpy. It's the same reason a housecat doesn't act like a cougar.

I grew up with coyotes, they're pretty timid animals. Realize that even in this case a couple of hikers that found her scared off all six of them.

I'm not saying your theory is wrong but, you'd have to admit, it'd be pretty unusual. It seems far more likely that they were desperate.

@ Dire_Wolf... I realize that coyotes do not hunt like wolves and that when they do hunt it is usually for small prey like rodents and such. In fact part of my point was that they were not hunting when they attacked her. They were probably looking for a handout and she probably reacted in a way that triggered them. My reason for mentioning wolves was to explain that animals that live in the wild have reflexes a fighting instinct that would make it very hard for her to fend them off (even with a stick). I grew up and live in northern MN and have encounters with coyotes and timber wolves on a quite regular bases. I realize that their behavior in this case is extremely odd but I cannot believe it had to do with desperation. These animals had to have lost their fear of people at some point and this was the sad outcome.

chasing...totally understand the 'lost the fear of humans' thing. Believe it or not, this is why, when your in Florida, you do NOT feed the alligators! They will later just up and take your poodle... or a poorly placed toddler.

@ Chasing

I think the "feeding" theory makes a lot of sense, it seems more likely than desperation. Especially in a national park.

But, at the same time, remember that two hikers scared them off. It's possible that they were only partially adapted to humans, but I find it strange that they were brave enough to deal with one human but not brave enough to deal with two.

Who knows though? Guess we'll have to wait for the report.

dire_wolf:
YES, I'll say it again: any woman who wanders off into the wild alone and un armed is STUPID. There are very real dangers in teh wild and to say she was "careless" is to be too kind.

Next: I call BULLSHIT. Where in the F*ing wolrd did you get the notion that 'yotes are scavengers and not hunters?
so teh ranchers who hired me to kill coyotes because they kill calves and sheep were wrong? I guess they were killed by the chupacabra?
and the citizens in Denver who whose dogs were attacked while ON THE LEASH next to their masters, just confused scavenging behavior with predatory behavior?
and the TWO children attacked last winter in the city by coyotes, confused house cats with coyotes?

I assume that coyotes just sit around waiting for rabbits and squirrels to drop dead?
It is assinine statements like yours that fill the nearly-empty heads of young kids like the victim and think they are not in danger.

"buddy up, go in pairs" now that's ironic, that's exactly what those coyotes' mom told them before they headed off in the morning!

Usually coyotes run in packs. So there may have been more than two in the vicinity...

umm, duh, the story says there were five or six in the pack.

Pepper spray is pretty effective for non-lethal accompaniment. A blast/shriek horn can be a good friend too. Some choose to wear a little bell (often called a bear bell in the Pacific Sierra's regions and elsewhere) when walking. It can help keep you from unwittingly stumbling upon and startling animals (big game), or even cause a predator to move away from you as it may feel that the noise is contrary to their hunting intention in the moment; however, it also potentially lets an otherwise determined predator know where you are (so its a little controversial, but chances are good a predator hearing your bell from far off will wander away rather than toward you).

Amongst anything else, I at least always carry water, a knife, a flashlight, some strong twine, and something for emergency warmth. Even on a short 20 minute walk out into the mountains/forest or local trail (any time of year, any time of day or night)... you never know what might happen. Any one of those things could save a life.

If you are inexperienced regarding the wilderness, you should never wander far without a buddy, or at least letting someone know where you have gone and when you left, and your intentions for returning.

Very sound advise.

all animals are diminished by man's pollution.

thats deep dave. totally unrelated, reveals how little you know about the wilderness and wild animals, but it's a pretty good soundbite that firmly establishes you as one of the touchy feely hug the wolf while he devours you kind of people.

Seems like rinavin has a substantial inferiority complex...

Umm, why is that?

The hunt down and kill bears if the bears eat human food.

someone needs to turn the tables? what does that mean?

'cause there's a serious shortage of varmints in the world.

is that the reason why you eat them or you don't eat them at all because you hate them

You are one buddy.

There are not now, nor have there ever been 'unusual numbers of sharks off Florida's coast'. In fact, the largest numbers 'sighted' was over a decade ago. And that just means that someone was flying over at the time.

this is one of those situation in which animals behavior is desperate, just like when people lose their jobs, have nothing to bring home and unemployment has run out, time to go and steal something. As animals are losing their habitat and food they are force to do what they are not supposed to do.

Fun with Dick and Jane. funny but it shows what people can do for real, just because are running out of resources...

@ rinavin:

You completely misunderstood anglcazn's point. No need to get your knickers in a twist.

That must also, then, be why bears eat fish, because they can't find adequate food on land.

We can also infer that sharks eat fish because scarce resources on land have driven them to the water.

DAMN YOU MOTHER NATURE. Certainly it couldn't be that a pack of coyotes were roaming the woods, saw a single individual walking, and decided to gang up on, and eat it. Oh wait, that's exactly what happened.

anglcazn, you don't know squat. that's hilarious. coyotes are NOT suffering because of the "demise of their environment and habitat". What a goof. Coyotes are one of THE most adaptable species and actually THRIVE in and around human settlements.

living in an area where coyotes, pumas, bears, elk, deer, and foxes all share the same living space as humans, I am in frequent contact with all of these animals but pumas and bears, even though even these leave their sign frequently.

The coyotes find more food around humans than they might in the wild. that in itself contributing factor: they had been habituated to humans as a food source.

we now have problems with coyotes in Colorado attacking people because peole havand then when they find a child or small adult alone, they are not frightened of them.

they might also have had rabies, but i've never heard of coyotes with rabies cooperating.

they just need to hunt more of those varmints and that will restore the natural order

I'm going coyote hunting this weekend. Wanna go?

@rinavin,
as someone has said you've missed the point in my argument. And I made it clear that I didn't mean just Canadians but EVERYONE. Read more closely next time. Also, despite how large the park is, what is the population of the coyotes and what is the population of their prey? If the population of the coyotes are more than the population of their prey, that means there are coyotes out there starving.

@Ares,
what? Your statement didn't even make sense or is in reference to mine. The mentality you have, as with a lot of people, is that animals are just out there to attack every single human they see, which by the way, is not the reality.

@curtisreed,
lol! To paint me in a picture of ignornace and stupidity to justify your own ridiculous reasoning is a pathetic way to crush my credibility. And yes, good for you that you're in frequent contact. So am I. But that's not the point. There are several studies that indicate that because of the expansion of urbanization, resulting in destroying their habitat for humans, coming more into contact with humans, and humans being stupid for trying to feed them, it may end in coyotes attacking the person. And of course, you think we need to kill them. That's what they said about Passenger Pigeons and they're now extinct.

sorry but you are simply not correct. coyote numbers are on the increase, NOT decreasing, and they flourish around human populations. if your logic held true, that humans destroyed their habitat, then you expect to see fewer of them in areas where humans have altered the environment.

you are probably right that humans have fed them and habituated them to assciating humans to food.

there is a BIG difference between hunting some predators and killing all the pigeons. we're NOT talking about an extermination campaign. just as the 'yotes can learn that people=food, they need to learn that people=danger. that will restore their natural timidity.

Ohh spooky.

You just brought both up yourself.

Yeah... It was just a matter of time before some Dumb ass brought them up.

true i guess... but still i mean it wouldnt be so hard to fight them off even with just your hands, specially in a life or death situation

not really, what is an animal lover gonna do to an attacking animal? nothing!

not even to save her own life? how retarded is that

Darwins law at work i guess

I agree. People who love the animals and feed them don't realize that they are actually doing (A LOT) more harm than good. As a budding wolf biologist I'm sure this will have negative consequences for canid conservation everywhere :/
My prayers and condolences to the family

I never thought of that. I hope it wasn't her feeding them! (no pun intended)

Hopefully there will be a follow up story after the rabies tests are in.

Either way, that is why you always cary a walking stick when you are hiking.

so you expect everyone to be able to fight off 2 coyotes with a walking stick?

Brandon, YES. God, if you don't know shit about the wild, don't make sarcastic remarks.

I have a 70 year old lady friend in Mill Creek Colorado who was hiking with her dog and a large male puma came at her, and she defended herself with a lightweight aluminum hiking pole and a bad ass attitude.

Except a single, predatory animal is much easier to fend off than six.

I'm not saying she wouldn't have had a chance, but how many cases can you think of where a single human has fended off 6 hungry animals?

If you kill or significantly wound or frighten the alpha you may have a very good chance. Then again, if the pack has already gone ballistic maybe not relevant. Then again, you never know.

All said, engaging the wild (whether it be Central Park at night, the wilderness, addressing security at home, or whatever) with no consideration to defense (even if its that you choose not to carry/harbor a weapon, or any defensive posture, or whatever) is not what I would teach my children. One may do well to always consider one's limitations, and then consciously choose.

To be clear, I am not prejudice with regard to pacifism/pacifists, I am only offering that one does well to be clear about one's life-path choices, rather than pressing forth 'unwittingly', so one may best be able to honor the way of life one is engaging.

So take a stick, or knife, whatever... or don't. But choose.

For myself, I would feel better taking my "walk" with the six ...having chosen to be out there with something rather than nothing. That's just me.

twohawks, I totally agree. I've had liberals that I know scoff at me for carrying a large walking stick and a hunting knife with me, or sometimes a pistol, because they think it's so "unecessary", or just because they hate guns (depends on the person) but personally I think it is THEY who are the fools.
I seem to recall a woman who went for a hike in Georgia a while back and was killed by a vagrant, remember?
Last summer, two women hiked near Ft Collins Colorado and were attacked by a man with a knife. They had hiking sticks and defended themselves.

Like you said: make a decision to be prepared for defense or be vulnerable.