Well, this coyote certainly seems to be living its best life, doesn't it? The animal shocked researchers by showing up to Alcatraz the hard way. It didn't arrive by boat. No, this wild pooch doggy-paddled all the way through the San Francisco Bay.
The coyote swam through the waters, making it to the rocky shoreline of Alcatraz on January 11. A visitor captured the entire thing on camera. But Aidan Moore, a guest relations employee for Alcatraz City Cruises, was incredulous until he saw the video himself. The animal had swam more than a mile in the cold waters. "I didn't believe them to start with," he said.
"He's certainly much fatter than when he arrived," Moore told The San Francisco Standard. "We don't know how long he's going to be a resident here, because if he interferes with the nesting birds he might get relocated to the mainland."
Coyote Thriving
He's the only coyote to take residence on the island since the 1970s. "Park biologists and staff are actively monitoring the coyote to better understand how it is surviving on the island and to assess any potential impacts to the seabird breeding colony," a rep for the National Parks Service said.
Well, the animal has certainly been living its best life and been dining on the island's bird population. He's apparently been leaving corpses in his wake. So officials are considering potentially removing the animal. However, animal activists like Janet Kessler think the coyote should be left alone.
"He expended a huge amount of effort to reach the island. If he can survive there, we should allow him to, allowed to live the life he has chosen. We all know that relocation is detrimental to coyotes and many don't survive. This coyote poses absolutely no danger to people — he will stay away from them," Kessler wrote.
"Lets stand back, watch, learn, and be awed by our wildlife and their amazing survival skills. We don't need to always control and interfere."
