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DNA linked the Alcatraz coyote to Angel Island after its swim

Wild coyote walking along a lakeshore
Research · Ecology

DNA from a coyote (Canis latrans) that reached Alcatraz Island, USA in San Francisco Bay in early 2026 matched the animal to the coyote population on Angel Island State Park. The genetic match strongly supports Angel Island as the animal’s origin, although DNA alone cannot reconstruct the exact route it swam. The National Park Service announced the result on 4 May 2026 after months of field monitoring and genetic analysis.

A visitor photographed the coyote on Alcatraz on 24 January. Park biologists subsequently searched the island for tracks and other signs, installed trail cameras and audio recorders, and collected scat for laboratory analysis. The samples were sent to the UC Davis Veterinary Genetics Laboratory.

The DNA analysis confirmed that the animal was male and matched its genetic profile to the Angel Island coyote population. Researchers had considered three possible source populations: San Francisco, southern Marin and Angel Island. The Angel Island result surprised park staff because a route from San Francisco would have been substantially shorter.

Taken together with the sighting on Alcatraz, the Angel Island genetic match documents an unusual open-water movement by a free-ranging coyote. Although coyotes are capable swimmers, the National Park Service concluded that the animal likely started from Angel Island, which would require crossing a substantial stretch of San Francisco Bay.

Alcatraz is important nesting habitat for seabirds, so the unexpected arrival also became a wildlife-management issue. National Park Service staff were prepared to capture the coyote safely and relocate it to more suitable habitat within Golden Gate National Recreation Area if it remained on the island.

Fresh tracks and scat were found shortly after the January sighting, but the coyote was never recorded by the trail cameras or audio devices during the following months. By the time the National Park Service released the DNA result in May, staff had found neither further evidence that the animal was still on Alcatraz nor any remains.

Sources and image credit

  1. National Park Service. (2026, May 4). Alcatraz coyote wasn’t a city boy after all.Primary National Park Service release reporting the DNA result, field monitoring and planned response on Alcatraz.

Image: Jacob W. Frank / National Park Service — wild coyote along Yellowstone Lake, photographed 18 October 2018; representative image, not the Alcatraz individual. Source: Wikimedia Commons. · Public Domain — U.S. National Park Service · Source

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