National Park Service officials make difficult decision about Alcatraz coyote

The evidence is all around us: traces of paw prints in the sand. There was some poop here and there. One bird’s carcass looked like it had been “picked clean,” according to at least one assessment.

It was just dawn on Alcatraz and a coyote had just landed on shore after a historic swim from San Francisco. No other coyote has accomplished such a mission since the National Park Service took over management of the island in 1972. The animal, estimated to be about a year old, was panting and shivering, leaving those who saw it wondering if it was still alive. But to the surprise of staff and visitors alike, it was discovered again by another visitor, alive and looking healthy.

I stood with Joshua Winchell, the park’s director of communications and special purposes, on the Agave Trail, which runs along the south edge of the parade ground where the coyote was last photographed. A pungent odor hung in the salty ocean air as Winchell stepped gingerly on the grainy white substance covering the ground beneath the ranger-issued rubber boots.

“Guano,” he explained. “It’s all compacted guano and maybe just a little bit of actual dirt.”

It’s typical of habitats like this that the flocks formed long before humans visited them, and in the absence of predators or human interference, the flocks have flourished in the decades since the federal prison on Alcatraz closed. Named “Isla de los Alcatraces” after a strange bird discovered here by a Spanish explorer in 1775, the island is now home to the Bay Area’s largest nesting population of Brandt’s cormorants and western shearwaters.

During my visit, birds were flying in flocks in the cloudless skies and basking in the sun along the shoreline. But Winchell told me that in just one week, thousands more turtles will arrive on the island for their nesting season. When this happens, the area will be cordoned off to the public.

“We essentially closed the door and let the birds take over,” Winchell said. “Then they took over. The whole area was filled with nests.”

The fact that coyotes roam the area and may have killed at least one of the cormorant remains we saw in the sand is cause for concern among park staff. While the coyote’s whereabouts are unknown and it hasn’t been seen since Jan. 24, Winchell said plans are underway to “humanely capture and remove” it within a week if it doesn’t leave on its own. Park staff then plan to move it to an unidentified site outside San Francisco, where it may have come from, with better habitat and a greater variety of prey.

“This is a learning opportunity for us, our biologists and our rangers,” Winchell said of the coyotes’ presence. “It’s new, it’s exciting, it’s cool, it’s different. But we have to consider the overall ecological impact. We believe the destruction of a single predator would be devastating to these birds and their entire breeding range.”

Carnivore ecologist Christine Wilkinson previously told SFGATE that relocated coyotes often do not do well, although Park Service staff believe the coyote is dispersing and looking for a new territory. She said research shows many relocated animals try to return to their territories and either die on the way or create more conflict in their new homes, calling it a “death penalty.”

However, park service staff are also concerned about the coyotes’ ability to survive long-term on Alcatraz, in part because of the island’s lack of fresh water and the fact that the island’s 22 acres are without any cover, Winchell said. While one coyote did successfully establish a new territory on Angel Island by swimming from Tiburon and calling others to join in, Winchell said there have been no reports of howling coyotes on Alcatraz Island.

“Ultimately, we don’t know what happened,” he said. “Is it an accident? Did it go out for a short trip and turn into a long trip? Did it come here on purpose?”

Currently, Park Service staff are consulting with “biologists with coyote experience” at other parks, but Winchell could not specify which ones, to determine next steps. They are conducting DNA analysis on some of the feces left behind by the animals, which are currently in the lab awaiting results. Staff also plan to install trail cameras on the island to better track coyote movements.

“There are lots of places to roost on the island during the day,” Winchell said. One ranger we met said she suspected it found a hole in a pile of rubble at the parade ground and crawled in, adding that when she closed in last Tuesday, she saw dozens of birds flying over that particular spot.

While its future hangs in the balance, the story of the coyote has left a kind of mythology on the island. When we brought the animal up on the ferry, the captain perked up. “I think they kept calling him Floyd,” he said — like Floyd Hamilton, Bonnie and Clyde’s getaway driver who tried to escape Alcatraz by swimming off the island. The cold and fear finally made him turn back.

Winchell said staff initially talked more about a “laissez-faire approach” to managing the animals, essentially letting it do its thing and letting nature take its course. But as breeding season approaches, they worry too much is at stake. Experts also have major doubts.

“We just don’t believe the coyote is going to survive,” he said.

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This article was originally published on National Park Service officials make tough decision about Alcatraz coyotes.