November 3, 2009--Folk Singer Eaten By Coyotes

This is not a lurid headline from the National Enquirer but rather a version of one from Sunday’s New York Times. And if a story of this kind can have a kind of good ending, this one does.

Here are the details. (Full article linked below.)

19-year-old Stephanie Luciow, a folk singer from Toronto who performed under the stage name of Taylor Mitchell, was attacked by coyotes while hiking in Canada’s Cape Breton Highlands National Park. She was discovered to be near death and with little hope for her survival was airlifted to a hospital in Halifax where she soon died from her injuries.

A terrible story of a young life ended well before its time with a family left to grieve for the rest of their lives. A sad but not unique tragedy. What is unique, though, is how Stephanie’s family in fact took her untimely and grim demise. And how park rangers did not follow their usual practice of tracking down and destroying the coyotes, which is common after animals have, in the language from events of this kind, “tasted human blood.”

Her parents remarkably reacted not in speechless grief but rather eloquently and transcendentally. They did not seek revenge against the animals nor did they invoke destiny or God or how she is now at peace in a better place. Here is what Stephanie’s mother wrote:

“We take a calculated risk when spending time in nature’s fold — it’s the wildlife’s terrain. When the decision had been made to kill the pack of coyotes, I clearly heard Taylor’s voice say, ‘Please don’t, this is their space.’ She wouldn’t have wanted their demise, especially as a result of her own.”

Park officials had begun to hunt down and kill the coyotes but paused when they read Stephanie’s mother’s words. They continued to study the animals in the area where the attack occurred to see if any were behaving in an unusually aggressive way. And though they did not rule out thinning the coyote population further—the park is one of Canada’s most popular tourist destinations and they want to be certain it is safe--they said that Ms. Mitchell’s wish would likely be honored:

“We really have a lot of sympathy for her perspective. We’re not out here conducting a general cull.”