{"id":432685,"date":"2026-01-27T12:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432685\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T12:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T12:02:09","slug":"a-coyote-swam-to-alcatraz-for-the-first-time-on-record-heres-what-to-know-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432685\/","title":{"rendered":"A Coyote Swam To Alcatraz For The First Time On Record. Here’s What To Know: Reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO, CA \u2014 A coyote stunned guests at Alcatraz Island earlier this month when it swam there, the first time that’s ever happened on record, according to multiple<\/a> news reports<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Aidan Moore, a guest relations employee for Alcatraz City Cruises, told SFGate<\/a> that he was at the dock helping visitors disembark when a tourist told him he saw a coyote swimming to shore. <\/p>\n

A video<\/a> posted to Moore’s social media shows what appears to be a dog-like creature swimming just off the island. Another video shows what appears to be a coyote drenched in water climbing through the rocky shore of the island. <\/p>\n

It’s unclear exactly where the coyote swam from or where. The closest locations could be San Francisco and Angel Island, both of which would be just under two-mile swims for the canine. <\/p>\n

\u201cCoyotes can be commonly seen throughout our San Francisco and Marin parklands but never before on Alcatraz,\u201d Julian Espinoza, a spokesperson for the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which oversees Alcatraz, told SFGate. \u201cThis was the first time our park biologists observed anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coyote sightings have increased in San Francisco \u2014 a city where they were once entirely wiped out, according to the Los Angeles Times.<\/a><\/p>\n

But Angel Island has also seen a surprising reemergence of coyote, the first of which showed up in 2017. There are currently at least 14 coyotes on the island, according to the Los Angeles Times. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe swim to Alcatraz is difficult even for a person in peak physical shape,\u201d Espinoza wrote in an email to the Los Angeles Times. \u201cWe were as surprised as anyone to see that video of the coyote swimming ashore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials did not say what happened to the coyote or what shape it is in. <\/p>\n

Coyotes are known to live in areas such as prairies or deserts, but they can adapt to urban environments and thrive in metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n

Most often, factors such as increased coyote populations, droughts, and habitat displacement due to urban development may be factors that drive the animal to these areas.<\/p>\n

The canines are usually fearful of humans and will go out of their way to avoid them. Attacks on humans are rare. Only one person in United States history has been reportedly killed by a coyote. <\/p>\n

Still, the coyote will attack under certain conditions, including when it’s cornered, defending its den, if it associates a human with food or if it’s injured or ill.<\/p>\n

Read more from SFGate<\/a> and theLos Angeles Times<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO, CA \u2014 A coyote stunned guests at Alcatraz Island earlier this month when it swam there,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-432685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}