The Coyote That Made It to Alcatraz Took a Much Longer Route Than Anyone Thought
The coyote that made international headlines after swimming ashore on Alcatraz Island in January did not come from San Francisco. It swam from much further away.
New DNA evidence collected by National Park Service ecologists has confirmed that the animal was a male from the coyote population on Angel Island State Park, roughly two miles across open water from Alcatraz. That is nearly double the distance from San Francisco, which sits about a mile and a quarter from the island’s southern edge.
Park Service wildlife ecologist Bill Merkle said the finding was unexpected. The working assumption had always been that the coyote made the shorter crossing from San Francisco because it was the most logical route. The DNA results, analyzed by UC Davis’ Veterinary Genetics Laboratory, matched the animal to a coyote previously sampled from Angel Island.
The coyote was first captured on video by a tourist on January 11, arriving on shore visibly shivering and limping. It was photographed again on January 24, apparently healthy, and park staff found bird remains and paw prints in the sand nearby. It was the first time a coyote had ever been documented on Alcatraz since the Park Service took over management of the island in 1972.
Concerns about the upcoming seabird nesting season prompted plans to trap and relocate the animal, but it was never seen again. Months of trail cameras and audio monitoring turned up nothing.
Park officials say the coyote may have swum back on its own, but nobody knows for certain. Alcatraz has no fresh water and only 22 acres of exposed terrain with virtually no cover, making long-term survival unlikely.
If a coyote ever returns to Alcatraz, officials say the timing relative to nesting season will determine whether they study it or remove it.
