The Alcatraz coyote mystery has a surprising new twist

The coyote that stunned Bay Area wildlife watchers by showing up on Alcatraz Island this winter did not swim there from San Francisco after all, the National Park Service said Monday.

DNA evidence indicates the animal likely came from Angel Island State Park, park officials said, upending an early assumption that the coyote had made the shorter crossing from San Francisco.

The coyote, a male, was first documented on Alcatraz after a Jan. 24 visitor sighting and photograph, according to the Park Service. The animal drew international attention because coyotes had not been documented on the island since Alcatraz was transferred to the National Park Service in 1972.

"We are surprised by the coyote's origin," said park service wildlife ecologist Bill Merkle in a statement. "Our working assumption was that the coyote made the swim from San Francisco because it is a significantly shorter distance. We couldn't help being impressed by his accomplishment in making it to Alcatraz. Coyotes are known to be resilient and adaptable, and he certainly demonstrated those qualities."

After the sighting, park biologists searched the island for tracks, installed trail cameras and audio recording devices, and collected samples for laboratory testing, officials said. Coyote droppings found on Alcatraz was sent to the UC Davis Mammalian and Ecology Unit of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory for DNA analysis.

The results confirmed that the coyote was male and linked him to Angel Island's coyote population, according to the Park Service.

"Three distinct coyote populations could have been the source of the Alcatraz coyote, San Francisco, Southern Marin, and Angel Island," Ben Sacks from UC Davis said in a statement. "Our lab was able to take the DNA sample and match it to a coyote previously sampled from the Angel Island population."

The finding makes the animal's journey even more unusual. Early reports focused on the possibility that the coyote had crossed from San Francisco, where coyotes are regularly seen in parks and neighborhoods. But Angel Island sits farther from Alcatraz, requiring a more formidable swim through the cold, current-swept waters of San Francisco Bay.

The coyote's current whereabouts remain unknown.

Park staff found fresh tracks and scat in the days after the January sighting, but the animal was not seen again and was not detected by the cameras or audio recording devices, officials said. The Park Service said there is no evidence the coyote remains on Alcatraz, and no remains have been found.

The animal's presence had raised concerns because Alcatraz serves as a nesting habitat for seabirds. Park staff had been prepared to safely capture and relocate the coyote to a more suitable habitat within Golden Gate National Recreation Area if it remained on the island, officials said.

"We don't know what happened to the coyote," Merkle said. "But he proved himself an expert swimmer to get to Alcatraz, and I hope he made a successful swim back home to Angel Island."

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