Coyotes are a constant presence in San Francisco. On any given day, they can be seen weaving through traffic, rummaging in trash bins or trotting through Golden Gate Park.
But this month, one of the region’s coyotes decided that city life was too confining. After diving into the frigid San Francisco Bay and paddling more than a mile, it surfaced on Alcatraz Island, the site of the notorious former federal prison.
One video shared on social media shows the coyote struggling onto the rocky shore. It was scrawny and shivering, sparking concern about its chances of survival.
Roughly three weeks later, though, the animal appears to be thriving.
“You have to admire the survival instincts of this little fellow,” said Janet Kessler, a self-taught advocate for San Francisco’s coyotes who is known to her followers as “the Coyote Lady.”
It is the first documented coyote presence on Alcatraz since the island was transferred to the National Park Service in 1972.
The water temperature in San Francisco Bay at the time of the coyote’s swim was likely in the low 50s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The coyote has likely been snacking on birds, rats, mice and slugs, Ms. Kessler said. She shared a photo of it this week, taken by a tourist, in which it is exploring the shoreline, apparently in healthy shape.
While Alcatraz has plenty of food, the island is just 22 acres — a fraction of the size of a coyote’s usual territory, Ms. Kessler said. A space that small won’t be able to sustain the coyote for long, she said.
Christopher Schell, an assistant professor and urban ecologist who studies city-dwelling carnivores at the University of California, Berkeley, said the coyote is likely about a year old. At that age, he said, coyotes leave the territory where they were raised and search for a new habitat.
San Francisco is home to dozens of coyotes, though, and small packs control specific territories. Young coyotes face stiff competition for land in the region and can often be displaced, Dr. Schell said.
“That animal decided that it was probably easier to swim to Alcatraz than to stay and figure out where their small plot of land would be,” he said.
It’s rare but not unheard-of for coyotes to swim long distances, Dr. Schell said.
For nearly a decade, a group of coyotes have lived on Angel Island in San Francisco Bay about a mile from Tiburon, Calif. There are also coyotes on Bainbridge and Vashon Islands in Washington State, suggesting that some swam across the Puget Sound, Dr. Schell said.
“It really highlights how little we know about the superpowers that coyotes wield to get around,” he said.
Still, he said, it’s a “mini-miracle” that the coyote survived its swim to Alcatraz. Its decision to take the risk suggests that conditions in its old habitat were particularly challenging, Dr. Schell said.
Some conservationists have expressed concern that the coyote could prey on the island’s roughly 35,000 birds.
The Park Service, which manages Alcatraz Island, did not say whether the coyote has eaten any protected animals.
The agency said that it planned to trap and relocate the coyote before seabird breeding season, which begins in the next few weeks. The coyote’s presence on the island “poses a significant risk to nesting birds,” said Elizabeth Peace, a spokeswoman for the Park Service.
The agency plans to bring the coyote to a “natural, undeveloped area that provides appropriate habitat” within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Ms. Peace said.
But it could be difficult to move the coyote without harming its chance of survival, Dr. Schell said.
“If you take a coyote that left the San Francisco area because competition was so stiff to begin with, and you place that animal right back into the fray, they’re going to try to escape again,” he said.
Ms. Kessler, who opposes the relocation plan, said she would have expected the coyote to eventually leave on its own to find a mate.
While the coyote remains on the island, she said she hoped that park rangers and visitors would take time to learn about the species.
“He expended so much energy and effort and bravery in getting over to that island that, hey,” she said, “don’t you think it’s a good idea to stand back and see how he does?”
Hannah Ziegler is a general assignment reporter for The Times, covering topics such as crime, business, weather, pop culture and online trends.
The post Escape to Alcatraz: Coyote Swims a Mile in Search of New Turf appeared first on New York Times.
