Coyote mitigation inadvertently sent Naval Air Station Whidbey Island into lockdown last week.

Sailors reported hearing multiple gunshots shortly before 10:20 p.m. while working the night shift on Thursday, according to Base Public Affairs Officer Mike Welding. The sailors were working near aircraft hangars.

The base entered lockdown for a “short period of time,” Welding said, spurring gate closures, restricted movement and shelter in place protocols. Base security forces confirmed the shots came from USDA personnel conducting routine coyote activity mitigation on the airfield.

Coyotes are a “distinct hazard to aircraft,” Welding explained, and USDA personnel seek to “remove them” on base at night, when they are more likely to be active. He said that USDA coyote mitigation is “closely coordinated with base security,” and that personnel must check out guns from the base armory.

“Given their perspective, the sailors did the right thing in reporting what they heard and allowing base security to respond to what ended up being a known, controlled activity,” Welding said.

The incident was the second pertaining to base security this month. On Feb. 3, base defense systems downed a drone flown on base in violation of base policy.