Coyotes are having a moment and we’re here for it. From an update on a daring swim through the San Francisco Bay to a new PBS documentary to a focus on pup season and urban coexistence, Project Coyote and the animals we protect have been showing up in the news in a big way. Here’s a roundup of what’s been catching our eye.
A coyote made national headlines earlier this year when he was spotted on Alcatraz Island. He was the only one documented there in more than 50 years! Biologists initially assumed he had swum from San Francisco, just over a mile away, but recent DNA analysis revealed he actually came from Angel Island – a 2-mile crossing through the cold, swift currents of San Francisco Bay. The same waters that foiled generations of Alcatraz inmates didn’t stand a chance against one determined coyote.
Despite trail cameras, audio monitoring devices, and months of follow-up, he was never spotted again. Our founder and executive director, Camilla Fox, was interviewed for the Associated Press story, explaining that the coyote likely left his home range in search of a mate or new territory. While coyotes are capable swimmers, she noted, witnessing one in the act is extraordinarily rare. “We have never, ever heard such a story of a coyote making such a long journey in a pretty challenging ocean current,” she said.
If the coyote’s motto is “adapt and survive,” this one took it to sea.
Coyote Crossing, now streaming on the PBS app nationwide, follows coyotes as they navigate Southern California’s cities, suburbs, and countryside while weaving together science, Indigenous knowledge, and firsthand accounts to explore how an ancient predator persists in a modern world.
We’re proud that our own founder and executive director, Camilla Fox, and ambassador Dan Flores — author of the beloved Coyote America — are featured in the film. Their voices are central to showing that coyotes are not a problem to be solved, but a wild presence to be understood. If you haven’t watched it yet, this is your nudge.
Coyote pups are taking their first wobbly steps across North Texas right now and our Texas State Coordinator Karin Saucedo’s opinion piece in Dallas Morning News and Yahoo Lifestyle, is essential reading for anyone living alongside them this spring.
Karin breaks down what’s actually happening during pup season, why you’re suddenly seeing more coyotes, and what that “escorting” behavior really means when a coyote trails you near a greenbelt. She covers what to do, what not to do, and why it all matters for the long-term health of your neighborhood ecosystem.
It’s clear, practical, and exactly the kind of science-grounded coexistence writing we need more of in North Texas and everywhere else.
Coexistence is Easier Than You Think
Camilla Fox recently joined the Mongabay Newscast for a wide-ranging conversation on urban coyotes, killing contests, and the science of coexistence. Coyotes are now present in nearly every major urban area in the United States, yet the fear and persecution directed at them is wildly out of proportion to the conflicts they actually cause. Still, nearly one coyote is killed every minute in this country on average.
Camilla covered everything from compensatory reproduction to leghold traps to the coalition Project Coyote helped build to ban killing contests in ten states. As she put it, once people arm themselves with knowledge about coyotes, they tend to come away seeing not just the animal’s ecological role, but what a genuinely remarkable creature it is.
The full episode is well worth a listen. Find it on the Mongabay Newscast wherever you get your podcasts.
