19-year-old Canadian folk singer Taylor Mitchell was killed by coyotes while hiking alone in Nova Scotia Tuesday afternoon, a story that quickly made news here in America. She was in the midst of an east coast tour promoting her debut album, For Your Consideration, and no doubt looking forward to next month’s Canadian Folk Music Awards, where she was nominated for Young Performer of the Year. She will now receive significantly more attention in death than she enjoyed in life, due to the tragic circumstances of her passing.
I certainly hadn’t heard of her. But in seeking out her musical legacy online, I was pleased to come across the seven rough but promising tracks on her MySpace page, as well as the samples available on her official website. They’re the work of an old soul, a girl whose voice is still finding its strength but whose musical character was already fully formed — her songs are wistful, traditional country-folk, certainly worthy of the classic “mature beyond her years” chestnut. There are several YouTube videos posted in tribute to her, but there’s only one that doesn’t feature graphic coyote photos superimposed next to Mitchell courtesy of what looks like a German tabloid, and that one isn’t embeddable. This story in the Montreal Gazette interviews many of her musical associates and peers, and we’ve reached out to her manager and hope to bring you a more personal remembrance soon.
Meanwhile, why not visit her MySpace and her official site, and listen to the music she left behind. Then leave thoughts, tributes, or — if you had the pleasure of knowing her work prior to today — memories in the comments.
UPDATE: Taylor Mitchell’s mother issues statement
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so sad.
It bothers me that the lighted ones go and the dark ones stay.
Thanks for doing this, Whitney.
the dark ones have more to learn that is why they must stay
So true Joe! As hard as it is for us to accept sometimes!
This is such a horrible story. My thoughts go out to her family.
Just listened to song 1 on her album at her website. Wonderful voice! But I had to stop as she went into the chorus, describing the man. The fore-shadowing is chilling.
I just listened to some of her songs. This is so sad. She is very talented and also quite pretty. I got choked up listening to her songs.
Not to diminish the horror and tragedy of her passing, but what does her being pretty have to do with anything?
How terrible!! I thought this was some sort of joke news headline at first! I have never heard of a fully grown healthy person be killed by coyotes! I wonder if the Canadian coyotes are more wild and fierce than they are here because the ones around my house are complete chickens. So tragic!
I don’t know if our Canadian coyotes are wilder and fiercer than your American ones. My parents live on a cattle ranch in Southern Alberta and I think the coyotes are pretty much like yours. You’ll see them in the pre dawn and dusk and you’ll hear them at night. They don’t socialize or interact with humans but you’ll want to keep an eye out for your kittens and puppies if you have them. They’ll go after the chickens too. For the rest I think they scrounge around on the prairie for whatever they can get. I live in Toronto, Ontario and we have coyotes in our ravines and some of the larger parks. Unfortunately they’ve become socialized and lazy. Just this summer in broad daylight one of them bounded across some guy’s backyard and tore his little dog right out of his arms. Of course the dog was never seen or heard from again. People are concerned for their toddlers. I don’t know what happenned to poor Taylor. They may have been hungry or reverting to a pack mentality (even though there were only two of them). Carry a knife when you’re hiking, especially when you’re alone, always, always carry a knife, you never know what you might need to use it for but at least you’ll have it handy. A little bit of the music died today. I weep.
Why shold innocent animals be killed- it is their territory. Would you like it if someone came into your house with a knife?
Because now they have tasted blood. It is in their nature to want more. That’s just the way it is. This isn’t a romantic adventure – they would kill again.
Actually, the place were she was killed was the Cape Breton Highlands national park. The coyotes here have bred with wolves which makes them larger than ones even on the west coast of Canada.
The interbreeding with wolves explains a lot. Thank you.
Coyotes are usually killed by wolves. Only in modern times have coyote populations been so high – you eliminate wolves you get more coyotes. My guess is she was attacked by an older, desperate animal, not able to reliably catch or scavange for food.
This is tragic and stunning news. I’ve hiked the trail where Taylor was attacked… it’s one of the most popular (and tame) trails in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park… it’s not like she was out in the middle of nowhere! It’s so hard to grasp this.
what an awful way to die. it’s just not right. may she RIP. i will listen to her music, she seems quite talented.
I send my condolences to her family. It is such a shame she died so young in such an awful way.
What a shame.
On her myspace page she lists her influences..Gram Parsons..Pete Seeger to name just a couple. I like to believe that maybe angels exist but if they do how could they let such a talented beautiful soul get killed by coyotes? Desn’t make any sense.
Um, people wake up. Coyotes are getting more and more aggressive and vicious. You’d be better off with a pack of wolves.
Wow. What a horrible way to die.
Coyotes in Nova Scotia? Are they sure it wasn’t just feral dogs? Not that it matters, dead by canine is the same dead as dead by coyote, it’s just that feral dogs have no fear of humans and coyotes tend to avoid human contact when they can, particularly when they are out of their normal range of the southwest US.
There ARE coyotes in Cape Breton. I’ve seen them. The ones I’ve seen have clearly NOT been dogs.
They’ve been here for years now…
http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=88#sid2
But like you said, it’s a horrible thing to have happened.
It’s been a long time since coyotes were only associated with the SW U.S. Just a few years ago it was on the news that they’ve been reported in every single contiguous U.S. state, plus Alaska, so it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that they’re all over Canada too. What a shame and a tragedy for her family. I hope her music gives them some comfort.
It’s a little silly to celebrate her music just because she’s dead- because you know she wouldn’t have gotten that recognition had she lived.
And coyotes are not getting more aggressive- that’s preposterous. We are inhabiting more and more land which was once ‘wild’. The coyotes have nowhere to go- ever hear that saying about ‘cornered animals’?
It’s not ferocity. It’s, essentially, desperation.
That said, I am sorry this happened, and my heart goes out to her family.
It was nice of you to get off your soapbox for a second at the end in order to deign Taylor with a sentence of condolence for having her life brutally cut short. But yes, it’s much more important to waste space rambling about how “silly” it is to devote a few minutes out of our day to listen to what this girl left behind.
I couldn’t agree more with you on all your statements.
Well said, you were sensitive, however it is the animals territory.
You don’t know that. She was already playing with top-notch Canadian talent from touring acts like Jim Cuddy, Oh Suzanna, and the Great Lake Swimmers at 19 years old. She was as poised to move up as any her age were. What a crappy, clueless thing to say.
Just listened to her songs. Oh my god, such a great talent, so hard to believe she was so young.
This is just a horrific thing to happen to someone and so darn sad. May she rest in peace.
She shouldn’t of been going into coyote territory alone hiking by herself. Please, you never go alone to those places without someone or some sort of protection. Your just looking for trouble!
You make it sound like she’s Chris McCandless or something. There is nothing wrong with getting some exercise by going on a hike…this isn’t some dangerous, isolated location, it is a popular national park.
No, she was just looking for nature. She was not ignorant of the great outdoors, according to her mother on the official website.
A terrible thing happened.
It was not her fault.
No need to lecture here.
The trail she was on is pretty innocuous — highly travelled, well groomed… a good portion of it is BOARDWALK! It’s not, by any stretch of the imagination, what one would consider to be “coyote territory”.
So very sad. Everyone is baffled how/why this happened. It’s a very, very rare occurence. She was beautiful and talented with so much promise. Very sad. My condolences to her family and friends.
Too young to die.
Thanks for this, Whitney, from up here in Canada. I must admit, I’d not heard of her either (folk music isn’t my genre), but the fact you picked up on this is in itself a touching tribute.
Coyotes are one of those animals that get along with humans really well. Before we came along, their population was kept in check by wolves, which treated them like enemies. However, wolves and humans cannot coexist side-by-side, much to the benefit of the smaller canid, the coyote. Terrible news and I hope her family is coping well. RIP.
Thats sad that Taylor Mitchell That she was Killed by Coyotes.She was only 19 years old.She was young.Shes where god is taking care of her.Also That where Patrick swayze is.also pop star Michael Jackson is also.
It is senseless and an abrubt end to the life of someone who was probably very talented and full of promise. I sympathize with her loved ones. But having said that, rule #1 is never hike/camp alone (let alone unarmed), unless for legitimate survival training or you happen to be a mountain man. It’s called wilderness for a reason. People need to be much more conscious of that. At the very least carry pepper spray.
Triste
what a crazy story.
Wow. This is so sad and tragic. We lost 3 cats to Coyotes living in Southern California. They do interact with humans more because of population growth. But she was hiking. Very tragic. My blessings go out to her family.
With all due respect to the dead- what is a young girl doing to walk along where there are animals around. It is the animals habitiat not hers- so why should they be hurt so becase she could not keep to he terrain?
I’ll have to check her music out. Anyone who lists Gram Parsons as an influence is aces with me. Such a sad bit of news.
scarle44 – I knew Taylor – she was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a “silly little rich girl”. I can debate with the best of them, but only when the opposing side uses logic instead of name calling and nonsensical rhetoric.
haha thats funny! thanks for the laugh