Imagine being a coyote. You're looking for love, maybe a new pad. You spot an island, two miles out in the frigid, choppy waters of San Francisco Bay. Most of us would call an Uber. This guy? He just went for a swim.
Earlier this year, a lone male coyote decided Alcatraz Island — yes, that Alcatraz, former federal prison, home to some of the bay's most notoriously strong currents — looked like a good place to be. Biologists initially figured he’d paddled a casual mile from San Francisco. Nope. DNA evidence later revealed he’d made the two-mile marathon swim from Angel Island. Because apparently that’s where we are now.
An Unlikely Vacation Spot
Bill Merkle, a wildlife ecologist with the National Park Service, admitted what we're all thinking: coyotes are tough, adaptable, and this one clearly got the memo. Camilla Fox, who heads Project Coyote, noted that while coyotes can swim, seeing one undertake such a Herculean journey through ocean currents is "very rare." She’d never heard of anything like it.
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Start Your News DetoxVideo from early January shows the determined swimmer paddling through the cold bay, then struggling a bit to haul himself onto the rocky shores. A visitor later snapped a photo of him, looking very much like he'd just conquered something, on January 24th.
Park service officials, ever the responsible hosts, were gearing up to catch and relocate the intrepid traveler. Alcatraz, you see, is a crucial nesting ground for seabirds, and a hungry coyote isn't exactly part of the ecosystem's master plan. But our aquatic hero has been a ghost ever since. No tracks, no sightings, no sign he's still plotting his next move on the Rock.
Alcatraz, which saw 36 men try to escape its clutches (most unsuccessfully) during its prison days, now hosts a much more successful escape artist. And Angel Island, his starting point, has its own history, once serving as an immigrant processing center. Fox reminds visitors to be respectful of coyote families there, especially during pup season. Because even a two-mile swim champion needs his privacy.
