A young coyote’s surprising swim to Alcatraz Island may soon end with a one-way trip back to the mainland.
National Park Service staff say they plan to capture and relocate the animal—believed to be about a year old—after it somehow made the journey from San Francisco to the 22-acre island. Rangers say no coyote has reached Alcatraz since the Park Service began managing the site in 1972.
The coyote was photographed on Saturday, according to the BBC. Rangers have also found tracks, scat that has been sent for DNA testing, and the remains of at least one bird, as reported by SFGate.
That last discovery is what concerns park officials. Alcatraz serves as a major seabird rookery, supporting some of the Bay Area’s largest nesting colonies of Brandt’s cormorants and western gulls. Thousands more birds are expected to arrive within days as the nesting season begins, which runs from February through September. Park officials warn that even a single new predator in such a dense nesting area could seriously disrupt breeding grounds.
Beyond the risk to bird populations, the coyote would also face long-term survival challenges on the island, including the lack of reliable fresh water sources and limited food options. Those factors have led rangers to conclude that removal is the safest outcome for the animal as well.
Staff have nicknamed the coyote “Floyd,” after Floyd Hamilton, the getaway driver for Bonnie and Clyde who once attempted to escape Alcatraz by swimming before turning back. If the coyote does not leave on its own within about a week, the plan is to humanely trap and relocate it to a more suitable habitat outside San Francisco.