Posted on 05/06/2026 7:06:28 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The National Park Service revealed the coyote is from Angel Island
The origins of a coyote that drew international headlines after it was spotted swimming ashore to San Francisco’s Alcatraz Island have been revealed.
Initially thought to have made the mile-and-a-quarter 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, according to new DNA evidence collected by National Park Service ecologists. The coyote’s whereabouts still remain unknown.
“We are surprised by the coyote’s origin,” Park Service wildlife ecologist Bill Merkle said in a Monday news release. “Our working assumption was that the coyote made the swim from San Francisco because it is a significantly shorter distance.”
The news follows the recent weeklong closure of the island for repairs at its ferry dock, which also led to the sudden cancellations 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.
Video of the swimming coyote, something that has never been recorded before, was captured by a tourist in January. At the time, experts didn’t rule out that it could have also been swept in from Marin County or Angel Island, where a family of coyotes also recently established territory after making the swim from the North Bay.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
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They also seem to think it was a coincidence a predator got to the island weeks before it's pray was nesting there. A predator landed where lots a crowd of it's prey would be amassing, in vulnerable situations. I am guessing it wasn't a coincidence, that coyote knew what he was doing. Coyotes are mainly only idiots in Warner Bros. cartoons.
It’ll be fat enough to float back.
😊
Are they white meat like quail?
Roadrunners.
Didn’t you lear that on Saturday mornings.
So does this shed the possibility that those three escapees could’ve made it?
“The coyote’s whereabouts still remain unknown.”
Look for him in with the Kintner kid.
wy69
Coyotes can catch roadrunners. If they don’t cheap out ordering Acme products.
“...according to new DNA evidence collected by National Park Service ecologists.”
Seems a little conscientious. We used to have some coyotes ‘round these here parts. The pups are actually adorable. But they’re nasty critters, the adults are ugly, and they’re messy killers (rabbits being among their favorites).
I was out of town when it happened, but the nighttime howling stopped. Apropos of nothing, there are some good shots around here.
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