{"id":624032,"date":"2026-05-05T02:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/624032\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T02:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T02:11:09","slug":"turns-out-the-alcatraz-coyote-didnt-swim-from-sf-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/624032\/","title":{"rendered":"Turns out the Alcatraz coyote didn’t swim from SF, officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Alcatraz<\/p>\n

Alcatraz Island is seen from the ferry in San Francisco Bay on Jan. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

Lizzy Montana Myers\/For SFGATE<\/p>\n

The origins of a coyote<\/a> that drew international headlines after it was spotted swimming ashore to San Francisco\u2019s Alcatraz Island have been revealed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Initially thought to have made the quarter-and-a-mile journey from San Francisco, which faces the southern edge of Alcatraz, the animal turned out to have made a much longer 2-mile swim from Angel Island State Park<\/a>, according to new DNA evidence collected by National Park Service ecologists. The coyote\u2019s whereabouts still remain unknown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are surprised by the coyote\u2019s origin,\u201d Park Service wildlife ecologist Bill Merkle said in a Monday news release. \u201cOur working assumption was that the coyote made the swim from San Francisco because it is a significantly shorter distance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The coyote, which was seen swimming to Alcatraz on Jan. 11, 2026, was later photographed by Rebecca\u00a0Husson on Jan. 24, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo by Rebecca Husson; courtesy of Alcatraz City Cruises<\/p>\n

The news follows the recent weeklong closure of the island for repairs at its ferry dock, which also led to the sudden cancellations<\/a> of tours. Alcatraz has since reopened and will likely close again for another scheduled repair, spokesperson Joshua Winchell said, but he did not specify when.<\/p>\n

Video of the swimming coyote, something that has never been recorded before, was captured by a tourist in January. At the time, experts didn\u2019t rule out that it could have also been swept in from\u00a0Marin County or Angel Island, where a family of coyotes also recently established territory<\/a> after making the swim from the North Bay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\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 in an email in January. He confirmed that no other coyote had accomplished the feat since the Park Service took over management of the island in 1972. \u201cThis was the first time our park biologists observed anything like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, it wasn\u2019t clear if the animal, seen shivering as it limped to shore, had survived the swim. But another tourist photographed it again later that month, seemingly healthy, as park staff discovered the carcass of at least one bird and paw prints in the sand.<\/p>\n

\"Bird<\/p>\n

Bird remains on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay on Jan. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

Lizzy Montana Myers\/For SFGATE\"Coyote<\/p>\n

Coyote tracks are seen on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay on Jan. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

Lizzy Montana Myers\/For SFGATE<\/p>\n

The remains became a cause for concern<\/a> with the seabird nesting season on the horizon. In February, thousands of birds descend on the island, and the area is cordoned off to the public. Though the coyote hadn\u2019t been sighted since the Jan. 24 photograph, Winchell told SFGATE that plans were underway to \u201chumanely trap and remove\u201d the animal\u00a0within a week if it didn\u2019t leave on its own. Park staff then planned to relocate it to an undetermined location outside San Francisco where it likely came from \u2014 one with better habitat and more varied prey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Park Service staff also expressed concern about the coyote\u2019s ability to survive on Alcatraz in the long term, Winchell said, due in part to the island\u2019s lack of fresh water and its size, 22 acres with no cover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If a coyote ever does reappear on Alcatraz, the timing of its arrival would drive much of our decision making about what to do next,” he told SFGATE in an email on Monday. “If a coyote returned to the island just before or during the seabird breeding season, we would likely need to quickly capture and relocate the animal off the island to protect birds, chicks, and eggs. If a coyote arrived just after breeding season ended, it could be a great opportunity to monitor and study the animal for a period of time.”<\/p>\n

Staff would still need to relocate it before the next bird nesting season, he noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Joshua<\/p>\n

Joshua Winchell, a national park ranger, poses for a portrait on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay on Jan. 29, 2026.<\/p>\n

Lizzy Montana Myers\/For SFGATE<\/p>\n

Wanting to learn more about the visitor, park biologists installed trail cameras and audio recording devices for signs of it, but months of follow-up monitoring yielded nothing. Experts eventually collected scat from the animal, which was sent to the\u00a0Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit of UC Davis\u2019\u00a0Veterinary Genetics Laboratory for DNA analysis. From there, they learned the coyote was a male, with results matching him to a coyote previously sampled from the Angel Island population, according to Dr. Ben Sacks.<\/p>\n

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The search is on for the animal, which has evaded eyewitnesses and cameras alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know what happened to the coyote,\u201d Merkle said. \u201cBut he proved himself an expert swimmer to get to Alcatraz, and I hope he made a successful swim back home to Angel Island.\u201d<\/p>\n

This breaking news story has been updated.<\/p>\n

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