Kelly Keen coyote attack
The Kelly Keen coyote attack is one of two known coyote attacks to prove fatal, and the only recorded fatal coyote attack in the United States. Three-year-old Kelly Lynn Keen was dragged off her property and fatally wounded before being rescued by her father. The event is also notable for its aftermath, in which large numbers of coyotes were killed and two animal rights activists provoked an uproar by falsely claiming her parents, not the coyote, had killed her. [1]
The Attack
On August, 1981, in Glendale, California, Kelly was left by her mother, Cathy, in the living room to watch cartoons. The three-year old girl left through the front door of the family's Chevy Chase Canyon home and wandered into the driveway, where she encountered a coyote. The coyote took the child in its mouth and ran off, dragging her through the street. Kelly's father, Robert, came running quickly, chased the coyote off, and rushed Kelly to the Glendale Adventist Hospital, where she was in surgery for four hours before she died.[1][2] The cause of death was a broken neck and blood loss as a direct result of the coyote attack.[3]
The Aftermath
Govenment reaction
Following Keen’s death, the Glendale Commissioner’s personnel developed the first serious urban coyote management program, including 80 days of leghold trapping and shooting within a 0.5-mile (0.8-km) radius of the attack site, during which county personnel trapped and shot 55 coyotes.[1]
Protest and accusations from Pamelyn Ferndin and Micheal Bell
Years later, in 2004, animal rights activist and former child star Pamelyn Ferdin attended a Glendale City Council meeting to oppose a proposal to cull urban coyotes. Ferdin addressed the Council wearing a shirt covered in fake blood, urging the city to not to cull coyotes. Ferdin mentioned the Kelly Keen attack, and argued that rather than having been killed by a coyote, Keen had been the victim of child abuse. She claimed that medical records indicated that the child died of a ruptured spleen, which could only have come from blunt trauma, not an animal bite. Her colleague, Michael Bell, went further by claiming that, after digging around in hospital records, he discovered discrepancies and missing documents. He stated that the coyote story was a cover-up for how the child really died.[2] Robert and Cathy Keen watched the meeting live on cable and, upon hearing Bell's statement, raced to the Glendale City hall to respond to the allegations. They recounted the event to the council, and showed the death certificate, which listed the cause of the child’s injuries as "mauled by a coyote".[1][2]
Ferdin's stance remained unchanged; "I stand by my beliefs that a coyote did not kill (Kelly Keen)." Her accusation was met with harsh criticism. Councilman Frank Quintero stated: "What the activists said at the dais was cruel and absolutely uninformed... Knowing the mother, it broke my heart that they would do that to her. When they were making the accusations, I was considering stopping them."[2]
Fatal coyote attacks on humans
The Kelly Keen attack is the only proven fatal coyote attack in the United States and one of only two such fatal attacks anywhere. [4] The other, the Tayor Mitchell coyote attack, occurred in Canada. On October 28, 2009, Mitchell, a famous 19-year-old Canadian folk singer who, during a tour break, was killed by at least two Eastern coyotes while she was hiking alone on a hiking trail in the Cape Breton Highlands, Nova Scotia. [5]
Similar attacks
USDA and California State University researchers have confirmed at least thirty-five incidents in the state in which “the possibility of serious or fatal injury seems likely if the child had not been rescued” from coyotes, including the following sample of confirmed coyote attacks on children:
- In August, 1979, in La Verne, CA, a coyote attacked a 5-year-old girl. Her father and a neighbor saved the child from being dragged off, but not before she had suffered deep bites on neck, head, and legs.
- In July, 1980, in Agoura Hills, CA, a coyote grabbed a 13-month-old baby by the midsection and started dragging her off. The baby suffered puncture wounds but was saved by her mother.
- In June, 1996, in Los Altos, CA, a coyote grabbed a 3-year-old boy’s head and hand and began dragging him toward some bushes before he was saved by his 15-year-old brother.
- In December, 2001, in San Gabriel, CA, a coyote bit 3-year-old girl in the head, grabbed her shoulder and started to drag her away, but was chased off by her father. [6]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d A History of Urban Coyote Problems, Robert M. Tim & Rex O. Baker, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2007
- ^ a b c d Life & Times Transcript, 05/06/04
- ^ The Urban Coyote Problem in Los Angeles County, Robert G. Howell Deputy Agricultural Commissioner, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 1982
- ^ Coyote Attacks on Children
- ^ "Coyotes kill woman in Cape Breton". CBC News. October 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
- ^ Timm,, Robert M., University of California, Davis (2004-03-03). "; Coyote Attacks: An Increasing Suburban Problem". Hopland Research and Extension Center. pp. 47–49. Retrieved 2012-06-25.
From the information gathered, we now list 89 coyote attacks in California (incidents when one or more coyotes made physical contact with a child or adult, or attacked a pet while in close proximity to its owner) (Table 1). In 56 of these attacks, one or more persons suffered an injury. In 77 additional encounters (not listed), coyotes stalked children, chased individuals, or aggressively threatened adults. In 35 incidents (not all listed), where coyotes stalked or attacked small children, the possibility of serious or fatal injury seems likely if the child had not been rescued.
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