A dead Eastern coyote was found washed up on the north shore of the Vineyard this past week, Island wildlife experts confirmed.

Suzan Bellincampi, executive director at the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown, said she received two calls four days apart from different individuals saying they had seen a dead coyote washed up on the shore.

Gus BenDavid 2nd, a natural history expert in Edgartown, he believes it was the same animal that had likely washed up in one place and been pulled out by the tides and washed up again.

“I’m 97 per cent sure by looking at the pictures that it’s the same animal,” Mr. Ben David told the Gazette by phone.

He said it was the sixth or seventh coyote to wash up on the Vineyard’s north shore in the past 10 years.

There is an established coyote population on Naushon island, in the chain of Elizabeth islands northwest of the Vineyard. To date there is no breeding population on the Vineyard. But a live coyote was seen on the Vineyard about a year ago, and another confirmed sighting was reported in January, captured on trail camera footage.

Since then, Mr. Ben David said he has not received any reports of the coyote that was last known to be in the vicinity of Morning Glory Farm.

“We don’t know if that one still exists or not,” Mr. Ben David said. “As of now, we don’t have any confirmation of coyotes established or breeding. I have not had any reports of them for quite some time now.”

— Aaron Wilson