A male coyote reached Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay by swimming 2 miles from Angel Island, double the initially expected distance from San Francisco. Biologists and wildlife experts were surprised by the achievement, as such long ocean swims by coyotes are extremely rare. Video footage from early January captured the coyote paddling through the bay and climbing onto the rocky island.
- 🏝️ “Our working assumption was that the coyote made the swim from San Francisco because it is a significantly shorter distance,” said National Park Service wildlife ecologist Bill Merkle in a Monday news release.
- 🐺 Camilla Fox, founder and executive director of nonprofit Project Coyote, stated “We have never, ever heard such a story of a coyote making such a long journey in a pretty challenging ocean current.”
- 📸 A visitor named Rebecca Husson photographed the coyote on January 24 during a morning tour of Alcatraz Island, noting it “looked healthy and so beautiful” and appeared to have been eating well.
Source: Associated Press – Read the full article →
