A coyote that bit a cross-country skier in Yellowstone National Park was being tested for rabies/NPS file
Editor's note: This updates with news that the coyote was not rabid.
A coyote that attacked and bit a cross-country skier at Yellowstone National Park did not have rabies, park officials said Thursday.
The unidentified 43-year-old woman received wounds to her head and arm when the coyote attacked her while she was skiing alone near Canyon Village. Rangers were able to kill the animal and it was sent out to be tested for rabies, park officials said Wednesday.
“She was just skiing alone and it came up behind her, so she did not see it before it bit her in the arm," park spokesperson Linda Veress said Wednesday afternoon.
It was not clear, however, whether the skier, a park resident, injured her head in the fall or whether the coyote bit her there as well.
The attack happened shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday as the woman, whose name was not released, was cross-country skiing on the Grand Loop Road near South Rim Drive.
Witnesses took the unidentified woman to the Canyon Visitor Education Center, where rangers provided initial treatment for puncture wounds and lacerations to her head and arm, the release said. She was then transported to Mammoth Hot Springs by over-snow vehicle, and then she continued on to a medical facility.
After the incident park staff temporarily closed the road, then tracked and killed the coyote and sent it for tests. The animal had a number of porcupine quills in its mouth and appeared underweight, park staff said.
“Encounters like these are rare, but they can happen. We suspect this coyote may have been starving due to having porcupine quills in its lower jaw and inside its mouth. Its young age likely led to its poor condition and irregular behavior,” said Yellowstone wildlife biologist Doug Smith.
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