Kelly Keen coyote attack

The Kelly Keen coyote attack is one of two known fatal coyote attacks on humans, and the only fatal coyote attack on a human in the United States. In the summer of 1981, 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 claiming that her parents, not the coyote, had killed her.

The attack

In August, 1981, three-year old girl Kelly Keen was left by her mother, Cathy, to watch cartoons in the living room of the family's home in the Chevy Chase Canyon neighborhood of Glendale, California. Kelly left through the front door and stepped 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

Government 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]

Accusations by animal rights activists

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 not to cull coyotes. She 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. Fellow animal rights activist Michael Bell went further, 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. Kelly's parents, 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)." 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 on humans in the United States and one of only two such fatal attacks anywhere. The other, the Taylor 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 three Eastern coyotes while she was hiking alone on a hiking trail in the Cape Breton Highlands, Nova Scotia.[4]

Similar attacks

A coyote approaches a child in a school yard in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia

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 California:

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 A History of Urban Coyote Problems, Robert M. Tim & Rex O. Baker, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 2007
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Life & Times Transcript, 05/06/04 Archived March 7, 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ The Urban Coyote Problem in Los Angeles County, Robert G. Howell Deputy Agricultural Commissioner, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, 1982>
  4. ↑ "Coyotes kill woman in Cape Breton". CBC News. October 29, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  5. ↑ Timm, Robert M., University of California, Davis; Baker, Rex O., California State Polytechnic-Pomona (retired); Bennett, Joe R., USDA APHIS Wildlife Services; Coolahan, Craig C., USDA APHIS Wildlife Services (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.