{"id":140732,"date":"2026-01-20T00:18:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/140732\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T00:18:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T00:18:28","slug":"coyote-swims-to-alcatraz-in-san-francisco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/140732\/","title":{"rendered":"Coyote swims to Alcatraz in San Francisco"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>He should have been trying to make his escape.<\/p>\n<p>A coyote doggie-paddled ashore <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/05\/12\/us-news\/last-living-alcatraz-inmate-recalls-haunting-feeling-of-being-locked-up-on-deathly-quiet-island-that-trump-plans-to-reopen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">at Alcatraz<\/a> on Sunday, leaving stunned guests and workers wondering how the unlikely visitor pulled off the daring swim.<\/p>\n<p>A tourist captured stunning footage of the adventurous animal paddling the former prison\u2019s rocky shores, showing the coyote standing on the rocks and appearing to shiver.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38227231\" width=\"437\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/late-sunday-afternoon-like-san-119244583.jpg\" alt=\"A coyote swimming in the water with only its head visible.\" class=\"wp-image-38227231\" style=\"width:447px;height:auto;aspect-ratio:0.74160732;display:block\"  \/>It\u2019s a 1.25 mile swim from the mainland to Alcatraz Island. Aidan Moore<\/p>\n<p>\u2018\u201cIt can barely stand,\u201d someone is heard saying in the footage. \u201cIt looks like maybe he\u2019s cold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The onlooker gave the video to a guest relations employee for Alcatraz City Cruises, who called in the sighting to park rangers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/local\/article\/san-francisco-coyote-alcatraz-21302218.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">according to SFGATE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>But when park officials arrived, the coyote was nowhere to be found. \u201cI suspect he fell into the water chasing something and was swept away,\u201d the employee, Aidan Moore, told SFGATE.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38227232\" width=\"449\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/late-sunday-afternoon-like-san-119244587.jpg\" alt=\"Coyote on rocky terrain near water.\" class=\"wp-image-38227232\" style=\"width:449px;height:auto;aspect-ratio:0.81722934;display:block\"  \/>Nobody is sure where exactly the coyote swam from. Aidan Moore<\/p>\n<p>A boat captain said the currents were off that afternoon and no animal would be able overcome them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe didn\u2019t look like he was in very good condition, which I\u2019m not surprised by given the harrowing experience,\u201d Moore told SFGATE.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody knows where the coyote swam from, but <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/16\/us-news\/sf-lawmaker-asks-ag-to-probe-lack-of-trees-amid-city-crises\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">San Francisco<\/a> is about 1.25 miles away.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe California Post is coming soon. Sign up for updates.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet in early. Be the first to know about launch and home delivery.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The coyote could have also swam from Marin or Angel Island, where a family of coyotes moved in, SFGATE reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been wandering around the island looking for him, but no one has been able to spot him,\u201d Moore added of the animal\u2019s whereabouts. \u201cIt\u2019s possible he might not be seen for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Comments on the video posted to Facebook reported other sightings of coyotes on the island.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch a brave coyote but all tired. When I <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/07\/17\/us-news\/bondi-and-burgum-tour-alcatraz-as-trump-seeks-to-renovate-and-reopen-notorious-island-prison\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">went to Alcatraz <\/a>a week ago I saw one. Hope they get help,\u201d one wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWow! I\u2019ve seen this at Angel Island but this is impressive,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He should have been trying to make his escape. A coyote doggie-paddled ashore at Alcatraz on Sunday, leaving&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140733,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[71025,7,101,103,102,104,106,105,933,3586],"class_list":{"0":"post-140732","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-alcatraz-island","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-san-francisco","11":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","12":"tag-san-francisco-news","13":"tag-sf","14":"tag-sf-headlines","15":"tag-sf-news","16":"tag-swimming","17":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}