Do Coyotes Bite People?

Coyote attacks on humans was a topic at coffee recently, and that sent me digging for info.

Found nothing current, only a 1990 research paper by Ludwig Carbyn in the Wildlife Society's Bulletin. He documents 14 coyote attacks, with four of those producing serious injury. I do recall after that report, a man crosscountry skiing was knocked down by a large coyote in Yellowstone Park and severely slashed by the animal's teeth. The victim spent time in a Bozeman hospital where I tried to get a phone interview but he declined.

Carbyn reports a 3-year-old girl was killed and other children attacked in Los Angeles County in 1982. He has more details on attacks in Canada. The most serious one in Jasper Park Townsite where a

2-year-old girl was taken from her backyard. The mother saw the animal dragging the child and was able to get her daughter to a hospital where emergency medical treatment saved her.

A 1960 mauling happened in November at Mammoth in Yellowstone Park where a 1-and-a-half year old girl was left in a stroller for just a moment on a cabin porch. A neighbor saw the coyote attack so she charged and began hitting the beast with a broom. Two other adults joined in before the coyote was driven away. That victim received 21 stitches but was protected from worse wounds by a heavily padded snowsuit and hood she was wearing.

Most of the coyote attacks reported by Carbyn are similar to the two related above, a small child left alone or with another small child in an area where coyotes had lost their fear of humans. The four most serious of these attacks had all the indications of being "predatory," ie, the coyote was hungry and looking for something it deemed easy to kill. Three of the attacks were made by female coyotes feeding pups. That situation seems to make the hunting mothers bolder.

Odd behavior of coyotes noted by Carbyn included one which took up car chasing and tire biting at Riding Mountain Park, Manitoba, and another one got seriously into tent ripping. 1988 had several reports of coyotes biting or slashing campers lying in sleeping bags at Banff National Park.

The scientist says coyotes seem to work up to an all-out attack, starting with shy efforts to approach humans without actual contact. This can be followed by bolder action but still no physical contact, and then the ultimate situation involves a deliberate and persistent attack. (This is similar to some grizzly attacks.) Practically all of the sustained coyote charges involved biting and slashing at the human's head and neck area, an instinctive method used on natural prey such as deer and sheep.

Although there have been cases of rabid coyotes, none of the attacks reported by Carbyn involved such animals. The majority of incidents were obviously triggered by the most basic of all predator motivations, H U N G E R.

Grey wolves usually cooperate with each other in hunting, coyotes very often, mountain lions seldom. I once watched unbelievable tactics successfully carried out by four coyotes against a band of bighorn sheep. If coyotes … and the lions … ever started using numbers in attacks on humans, we'd probably see some real management policy conflicts between PETA and the rednecks.

BUT! That would never happen … would it?

G. George Ostrom is a Kalispell resident and a national-award winning Hungry Horse News columnist.