On October 27, 2009 Mitchell was hiking alone during the afternoon on the Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia. During her hike, she was attacked and fed on by three coyotes. During the attack, a group of four other hikers came across the scene, managed to scare the remaining coyote away and called 911. When emergency crews arrived, she was taken to a hospital in Cheticamp and then airlifted to Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax in critical condition. She died overnight. An officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) later shot a coyote in the park, though the officer could not find the carcass. In the evening, park staff located another coyote and killed it, though there were no signs on its carcass that it had been shot. It is estimated that there were five or six coyotes in the area. In an interview with The Gazette, Brad White, a coyote expert at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario said they might have been coyote-wolf hybrids. However, Don Anderson, a biologist with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, said he has seen no reason to suspect the animals were coyote-wolf crosses. Don Anderson noted there are no wolves in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Dr. Brent Patterson of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, however, concludes there is sufficient physical evidence that these coyotes were so-called "Eastern Coyotes." Eastern Coyotes of the Canadian provinces are distant hybrids of Canadian wolves and coyotes that go back generations when the Western Coyotes of the North American Plains regions of the United States, migrated to the Ontario region, and interbred with native wolves. This possibly instilled the dominance and aggressive behaviours displayed by the Cape Breton coyotes.[12] Stan Gehrt, a coyote expert at Ohio State University's school of environment and natural resources suggested that the coyotes were rabid.[13] This theory, however, was proved to be invalid through post mortem examination conducted at the University of Prince Edward Island, of the six exterminated coyotes, three of which could be directly linked to the attack.of the park.[1] Eventually, a total of six coyotes were killed following the attack, but only three could be conclusively linked with the attack by means of stomach contents.[10][11]
In an interview with The Gazette, Brad White, a coyote expert at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario said they might have been coyote-wolf hybrids. However, Don Anderson, a biologist with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources, said he has seen no reason to suspect the animals were coyote-wolf crosses. Don Anderson noted there are no wolves in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick. Dr. Brent Patterson of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, however, concludes there is sufficient physical evidence that these coyotes were so-called "Eastern Coyotes." Eastern Coyotes of the Canadian provinces are distant hybrids of Canadian wolves and coyotes that go back generations when the Western Coyotes of the North American Plains regions of the United States, migrated to the Ontario region, and interbred with native wolves. This possibly instilled the dominance and aggressive behaviours displayed by the Cape Breton coyotes.[12] Stan Gehrt, a coyote expert at Ohio State University's school of environment and natural resources suggested that the coyotes were rabid.[13] This theory, however, was proved to be invalid through post mortem examination conducted at the University of Prince Edward Island, of the six exterminated coyotes, three of which could be directly linked to the attack.
Bob Bancroft, a Nova Scotia wildlife biologist, suggested that the coyotes were inexperienced hunters — hungry and desperate yearlings — and that their predatory instinct was triggered by the singer fleeing instead of standing her ground.[14] In The Gazette, Stan Gehrt thought this might be why the coyotes attacked: "Most canids (coyotes, foxes, and wolves) will attack prey that begin to run away from them. Maybe that's what she did. Unfortunately, there are no witnesses."[13]
Mitchell was only the second fatal coyote attack on a human ever recorded in North America.[15] The first occurred in the United States[16] in August 1981, when 3-year-old Kelly Keen was attacked by a coyote outside her home in Glendale, California.[17]
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