Toronto singer dies in Cape Breton coyote attack

Taylor Mitchell was on the cusp of a dream: At 19 years old, she had just released her first record, learned to drive, bought a car, packed her guitar and drove east from Ontario for a series of small performances in the Maritimes.

On a break between gigs Tuesday afternoon, the Toronto singer and songwriter hiked alone along the popular Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, renowned for its ocean views and opportunities to spot whales and moose. Two coyotes appeared along the seven-kilometre trail. They attacked.

A hiker heard her screams and called 911. RCMP officers arrived and shot one of the coyotes. Mitchell was airlifted to Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax with bites all over her body. She died early Wednesday morning, said Sgt. Bridgit Leger of the RCMP.

"She loved the woods and had a deep affinity for their beauty and serenity," Lisa Weitz, Mitchell’s publicist, said in an e-mail.

"Words can’t begin to express the sadness and tragedy of losing such a sweet, compassionate, vibrant, and phenomenally talented young woman."

Experts expressed shock at the fatal encounter, which, they say, was out of character for the species. Coyotes have been known to attack pets and sometimes small children. But to attack and kill an adult is extremely rare.

"It’s extraordinary. But one time is too much," said Helene Robichard, superintendent of Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The attack may have been the result of increased human-animal contact in national parks, she said.

The coyotes continued to act aggressively after the RCMP arrived. An officer shot at one, but it hobbled away and its body was not immediately recovered, Leger said. Park officials killed one of the coyotes late Tuesday night and are still looking for the other. The hiking trail remains closed as the search continues.

The coyotes’ bodies will be sent to Atlantic Veterinary College on Prince Edward Island for pathological testing to help determine the cause of their behaviour.

"To me, this looks like two yearlings with very little hunting experience, very little experience with humans, probably very hungry, maybe a little bit desperate," said Dr. Simon Gadbois, an animal behaviour specialist at Dalhousie University in Halifax who has studied the species. "Coyotes are very discreet, very shy animals. They are also very curious."

If Mitchell ran from the coyotes or panicked, it may have triggered a predatory response in the animals, he said.

Fans flocked to Mitchell’s Facebook and MySpace pages Wednesday to express their condolences. The young singer’s death is a major loss for folk music in Canada, said Lynn Miles, a musician who mentored the young performer through the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals.

"She was incredibly talented, and at the same time, incredibly grounded," Miles said. "I was waiting to see what she would do next, and how she would evolve into an even greater songwriter and performer."

Mitchell was passionate about her music. In the summer, she spent 31 hours on a Greyhound bus in order to perform at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Days before her death, she was nominated for the Canadian Folk Music Awards’ Young Performer of the Year.

The young singer’s blog posts show how enthusiastic she was about her East Coast tour. In a post dated Oct. 19, she wrote about how excited she was for the show in Sussex, N.B., saying it would take her three days to get there.

"She had just gotten her licence and her first set of wheels to take her on the road to the Maritimes," Weitz said. "Her excitement was contagious and positively palpable."

In a taping of her last show in Lucasville, N.S., on Sunday, Mitchell laughs between songs as she strums her guitar. She tells the audience how she drove through two snowstorms to keep the dates on her "Atlantic Winds and Sea Shanties" tour. She planned to go back into the recording studio as soon as she got home to Toronto.

"In the studio she held her own, kept her cool, and soared to a place we all stood in awe of," said Michael Johnston, who produced her first album. He noted how confident and imaginative the singer was at such a young age.

A recent graduate of the Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, where she majored in musical theatre, Mitchell started giving lessons out of his home studio this year.

"My wife and I considered her part of our family," Johnston said. "She was an irreplaceable friend – the only one who could pull off a surprise birthday party earlier this year for my wife, and the only babysitter we ever trusted with our daughter."