Coyote attack
Attack on a human by a coyote
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coyote attacks are events where coyotes attack humans.
While these attacks are uncommon and rarely cause serious injuries, they have been increasing in frequency, especially in California.
Although media reports generally identify the animals as simply "coyotes", some attackers in northeast North America may be hybrids known as coywolves.
Description
Coyote attacks on humans are uncommon events and rarely cause serious injuries.[1][2] In such events where a human is targeted, coyotes usually see children as prey as opposed to adults.[3] Coyotes (in general) are losing their fear of humans, which is further worsened by people intentionally or unintentionally feeding them.[4] In such situations, some coyotes have begun to act aggressively toward humans—chasing joggers and bicyclists, confronting people walking their dogs, and stalking small children.[4] However, others appear to have initially targeted a person's pet, which provoked sequential counter-attacks.[5] Although media reports of such attacks generally identify the animals in question as simply "coyotes", research into the genetics of the eastern coyote indicates those involved in attacks in northeast North America, including Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and Eastern Canada, may have actually been coywolves, hybrids of Canis latrans and wolves.[6]
According to Smithsonian magazine, at least 160 attacks occurred in the United States in the 30 years leading up to March 2006.[7] Most of these attacks occurred in the Los Angeles County, California area.[7] Another data collection specifically focused on that state was also conducted by the University of California, and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Wildlife Services.[4] When fully compiled, the list named 89 verified coyote attacks that were recorded in California between May 1978 and November 2003. The criteria included "when one or more coyotes made physical contact with a child or adult or [the coyote] attacked a pet while in close proximity to its owner."[4] Another study published in 2004 documented 35 incidents in which a minor likely would have "serious or fatal injury" if they had not been rescued.[5]
List of attacks with human injuries
Fatal attacks
Two fatal coyote attacks on humans have been confirmed by experts:
- On August 26, 1981, a coyote grabbed three-year-old Kelly Keen in the driveway of her father's home in Glendale, California, and dragged her across the road. Her father rescued her by chasing the coyote away and rushed her to a medical center, but she died in surgery due to blood loss and a broken neck.[4][8]
- On October 27, 2009, two eastern coyotes (coywolves) mauled 19-year-old singer-songwriter Taylor Mitchell at Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada.[9] She was on a hiking break from her concert tour when they stalked and chased her down the Skyline Trail. An air ambulance airlifted her to a medical center, but she died a few hours later from severe injuries and blood loss.[10] A study led by Senator Bernie Sanders to determine the factors that led to the attack found that extreme climate changes had caused most of the small animals the local coyotes normally ate to migrate away. This forced them to switch to hunting larger prey like moose and deer for almost the entirety of their diet. The researchers said unprovoked predatory attacks like this are very rare and seem to be linked to extreme ecological conditions (with limited prey).[11]
Non-fatal attacks
The following table includes non-fatal attacks on humans which are subject to a list criterion. Included events only involve attacks by the same coyote or group of coyotes on notable individuals and 2 or more victims. Pets involved in a human attack are not included under "victims".
| Date | State or Provence | Country | Victims | Age | Short summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 1997 | California - San Juan Capistrano | United States | 2 | Unknown | Two female victims: Ankle bitten twice, pulled to ground.[5] |
| December 17, 1997 | Arizona - Scottsdale | United States | 2 | Children | On December 17, 1997, coyotes bit two children in Scottsdale, Arizona. Neither child had serious injuries.[12] |
| May 31, 1999[a] | California - South Lake Tahoe | United States | 2 | Unknown | Both victims bitten.[5] |
| October 2001 | California - San Clemente | United States | 2 | Children | In October 2001, in San Clemente, a coyote attacked several children on a schoolyard. An 8-year-old girl was bitten on the back of her neck and scratched. A 7-year-old boy was bitten on his back and arm.[5] |
| April 2006 | Washington - Bellevue | United States | 2 | Children | In April 2006, two coyotes bit two young children in Bellevue, Washington. The coyotes were euthanized afterwards.[13] |
| April 6, 2010 | Texas - Port Aransas | United States | 2 | Teens | On August 6, 2010, in Port Aransas, Texas, two Boys Scouts, 14 and 15 years old, from San Antonio, were bitten by a coyote while sleeping outside their tent on the beach. The boys received preventive rabies shots.[14] |
| September 2011[b] | Colorado - Broomfield | United States | 3 | Children | During a period of two months, from July to September 2011, three children between the ages of two and six were bitten by a coyote in Broomfield, Colorado.[15] All four encounters are thought to have involved the same adult male coyote, who was euthanised.[16] |
| March 2012 | Arizona - Peoria | United States | 3 | Adults | In March 2012, a coyote bit two women and a man in Peoria, Arizona.[17] |
| January 14, 2014 | Ontario - Markham | Canada | 2 | Adults | On January 20, 2014, in Markham, Ontario, two women were bitten by canids, probably coyotes.[18] |
| June 23, 2014 | Ontario - Thornhill | Canada | 2 | Adults | On June 23, 2014, in a residential area Thornhill, Ontario, two women were attacked by two wild canids (thought to be coyotes, coywolves, coydogs, or lupine feral dogs), biting one of them on the leg and the other on the hip. Both began preventive treatment for rabies.[19][20] |
| December 25, 2014 | California - Fremont | United States | 2 | Adult & child | On December 25, 2014, in Fremont, California, an unhealthy-looking coyote bit the leg of a man walking his children to his car outside a home. The man and the children escaped into the house. After the attack, a boy was bitten by the coyote about a block away, but saved by his father. Police arrived, shot the coyote, and sent the body to be tested for rabies.[21] |
| January 5, 2015 | Massachusetts - Groveland | United States | 2 | Adults | On January 5, 2015, in Groveland, Massachusetts two men were attacked by a coyote outside their houses. One of them had his four-year-old daughter with him.[22] |
| October 14, 2015 | California - Irvine | United States | 2 | Adult & child | On October 14, 2015, a 31-year-old man and his 3-year-old son were attacked by a coyote while they were in a garden.[23] |
| October 2, 2016 | New York - Wolcott | United States | 2 | Adults | On October 2, 2016, a coyote bit two women and a dog in Wolcott, New York.[24] |
| November 30, 2016 | New York - Ossining | United States | 2 | Adults | On November 30, 2016, two neighborhood residents, and a dog were bitten by a possibly rabid coyote in Ossining, New York.[25][26] |
| May 19, 2018 | North Carolina - Mocksville | United States | 2 | Adult & child | On May 19, 2018, a man and his seven-year-old daughter in Mocksville, North Carolina were assaulted by a coyote in their backyard.[27] |
| July 2018 | Quebec - Ahuntsic-Cartierville | Canada | 3 | Children | In late July 2018, coyotes in Ahuntsic-Cartierville (a borough within the city of Montreal) mauled a five-year-old boy, a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old girl.[28][29] |
| October 3, 2018[c] | Illinois - Elwood | United States | 3 | Adults | In September–October 2018, a coyote in Elwood, Illinois assaulted three adults. They all received rabies treatment. A police officer euthanized the animal.[30] |
| January 26, 2019 | Florida - Kissimmee | United States | 3 | Adults | On January 26, 2019, a man in Kissimmee, Florida was assaulted by a coyote while walking down a street. While he successfully fended it off, the animal later assaulted the man's wife and their neighbor. All three received rabies treatment.[31] |
| April 1, 2019 | Vermont - Salisbury | United States | 2 | Adults | On April 1, 2019, a rabid coyote in Salisbury, Vermont assaulted an elderly couple on their farm. The couple successfully recovered in a Middlebury hospital due to rabies treatment.[32] |
| June 13, 2019 | New Jersey - Fairfield | United States | 2 | Adult & child | On June 13, 2019, a coyote in Fairfield, New Jersey mauled a thirty-four-year-old woman and her four-year-old son in Fairfield's recreational complex.[33] |
| September 1, 2019 | South Carolina - Columbia | United States | 4 | Adults | On September 1, 2019, a rabid coyote in Columbia, South Carolina assaulted four people and two domesticated dogs around an apartment complex.[34][35] |
| November 18, 2019 | New Jersey - New Brunswick | United States | 2 | Adults | On November 14 and November 18, 2019, an "unusually aggressive" coyote in the Rutgers Ecological Preserve, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey attacked and bit two separate people on two occasions. Rutgers police officers killed it, and it tested negative for rabies.[36] |
| October 1, 2020 | Maryland - Rockville | United States | 3 | Adults & child | On October 1, 2020, two women and a boy in Rockville, Maryland were pursued by a rabid coyote. All three victims were treated for rabies afterwards.[37] |
| March 12, 2021 | California | United States | 5 | Adults & children | On March 12, 2021, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced it had captured and euthanized a coyote that had attacked five people (two of whom were children) in the towns of Moraga and Lafayette since July 2020.[38] One of the children was a 2-year-old boy who was bitten on July 9, 2020 on the leg near Moraga Commons Park's restrooms.[39][40] |
| June 21, 2021 | Alberta - Nolan Hill | Canada | 2 | Adult & child | On June 21, 2021, a forty-one-year-old woman and her five-year-old daughter in Nolan Hill, Alberta were mauled by a coyote.[41] |
| July 7, 2021 | British Columbia - Stanley Park | Canada | 3 | Adults | On July 7, 2021, a coyote in British Columbia's Stanley Park mauled a man who was practicing yoga. It also mauled a runner and a woman who came to the runner's aid.[42] |
| August 12, 2022 | California - Marin Headlands | United States | 1 | Adult | On August 12, 2022, a coyote allegedly mauled Dean Karnazes during a race in Marin Headlands, and he fended it off with a jogging pole.[43] |