Dead coyote likely involved in attack: Parks Canada

Taylor Mitchell, 19, who reportedly died after being attacked by coyotes in a Nova Scotia park, is seen in this image taken from her Facebook page.

One of the coyotes believed to have mauled and killed a 19-year-old folk singer on a Cape Breton trail was neither hungry nor diseased, preliminary tests on the animal has revealed.

Parks Canada staff killed a coyote last Tuesday, a few hours after Toronto's Taylor Mitchell was mauled in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Mitchell died later in a Halifax hospital.

The animal was taken for tests to the Atlantic Veterinary Centre, and officials say preliminary results suggest it was involved in the attack.

"There's no evidence of rabies or other disease or any other physical element of the animal that might have led to this attack," Chip Bird, a field unit superintendent with Parks Canada in Cape Breton told The Canadian Press.

The animal was a 14-kilogram female in "really healthy shape" and there was evidence it had food in its system, Bird said.

"This was not a hungry or starving animal," he said.

Experts have had a number of theories about why the two coyotes, animals that are generally afraid of humans, attacked the young woman.

Some initially suggested the animals were starving or diseased. Other theories say the animals were young, inexperienced and unafraid of people.

The search continues on the Skyline Trail, which is closed, and other surrounding trails for the second animal involved in the attack.

With files from The Canadian Press