Coyotes on Inverness County doorsteps

People in Inverness Countysay they are overrun with some unwelcome visitors - coyotes.

The animals have been wandering into people's yards and onto walking trails around the county, area councillor Gloria LeBlanc said Tuesday.

"People have seen them on their back door step, have been followed by them when out walking, and also in the village of Cheticamp - they have been seen in the village - which is rather scary," said LeBlanc, who represents Margaree-St.Joseph's on Inverness County Council.

"It's a worry for a lot of us because of the fact that I'm always scared that a child will approach one of these animals and be bitten mauled or whatever and that's the biggest danger."

Inverness County Council wants a meeting with the provincial Department of Natural Resources to discuss how to best handle the situation.

At the end of October, a 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto was killed by coyotes while hiking on the Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, not far from Cheticamp.

Taylor Josephine Stephanie Luciow, who went by the stage name Taylor Mitchell, was first taken to the hospital in Cheticamp, before being airlifted to Halifax where she later died.