YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A coyote has bitten a cross-country skier in Yellowstone National Park.
The attack happened Tuesday morning on Grand Loop Road in the Canyon Village area.
Rangers treated the unidentified 43-year-old at the Canyon Visitor Education Center for punctures and lacerations on her head and arm, park officials said Wednesday.
They took her to Mammoth Hot Springs. From there, she was taken to medical facility elsewhere. Her condition wasn’t immediately available.
Park officials killed the coyote and were having it tested for rabies.
Coyote attacks in the park are rare, Yellowstone wildlife biologist Doug Smith said in a statement.
Park officials didn’t immediately provide information Wednesday about any previous coyote attacks in Yellowstone.
However, attacks by elk and bison — though still rare, considering the park’s millions of visitors — are much more common. They occur at least a couple times a year, typically when people get too close to animals they perceive as docile.
The young coyote may have been starving because it had porcupine quills in its jaw and mouth, Smith said.
Most roads in Yellowstone are closed to wheeled vehicles for the winter. The roads are groomed and open to snowmobiles, snow coaches and skiers until March.