Yellowstone National Park officials say a coyote attacked and injured a cross country skier on the morning of Tuesday, January 28.
The unidentified 43-year-old woman was bitten while skiing in the Canyon Village area. She was treated for lacerations and puncture wounds to her head and arm before being taken to Mammoth Hot Springs. She was later transported to another medical facility. Her condition wasn’t immediately available.
Park staff temporarily closed Yellowstone’s Grand Loop Road near the South Rim Drive before positively identifying and killing the coyote. The animal is now being tested for rabies. Porcupine quills in its lower jaw and mouth indicate the young coyote was probably starving, according to Park Wildlife Biologist Doug Smith.
Coyote attacks on humans are rare but known to happen. Last week, one attacked an Ohio police officer assisting a stranded motorist. Police shot and killed the animal. A coyote was also killed in New Hampshire last week when a man strangled it to death with his bare hands. The animal had attacked his toddler son. That coyote later tested positive for rabies.
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