Nature
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Surrounded by hostile waters, Alcatraz Island was the ideal location for a high-security prison to house America’s most notorious gangsters, crooks, and outlaws. So, you can imagine the surprise when tourists recently spotted a coyote swimming from the mainland to the island – the first time this journey has been recorded.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.On January 11, Aidan Moore of Alcatraz City Cruises was approached by a tourist who claimed they had seen a coyote swimming ashore onto the island. The tourist shared his video (watch below) showing the wild canine paddling through the choppy bay before hauling itself onto the rocks, shivering and exhausted.
Moore didn't see the coyote with his own eyes, but he called the park rangers to check out the situation, by which time the bedraggled canine had already vanished.
“It disappeared,” Moore told IFLScience. “We're not sure if it's hidden on the island somewhere, or if it was washed back into the bay and swept away.”
Swimming to Alcatraz is no small feat. The distance from the island to mainland San Francisco is roughly 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) at some points, plus it's riddled with treacherous conditions that would challenge any swimmer.
“The water is very cold in the Bay and is subject to some very strong currents,” explained Moore.
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are reasonably good swimmers, but they are hardly aquatic athletes. It’s uncertain why the wild canine entered the water, although it’s evident that the population living around San Fran has become increasingly adventurous and water-friendly in recent times.
Over the past 10 years, between 14 and 17 coyotes appeared on Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. Rangers at the Angel Island State Park were unsure how they suddenly emerged on the island, but they suspect they swam from Tiburon on the mainland across the Raccoon Strait for over 1.6 kilometers (1 mile).
“We do know coyotes have been expanding south into Marin County and to San Francisco. They’re already taking exploratory things like going across the Golden Gate Bridge,” Brett Furnas, an ecologist at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told Bay Nature in 2024. “So it’s not a stretch that they would, maybe by accident, get swept across to Angel Island, or intentionally do that.”
Pushed by similar pressures, could this recent arrival on Alcatraz Island be an early pioneer of a similar coyote expansion? Only time will tell. For now, let’s hope the weary traveller found refuge after their risky swim.
