Coyote In the City

A wily coyote led sharpshooters armed with tranquilizer guns on a chase through New York's Central Park before being captured March 22, 2006. The hunt began a day earlier, when the animal was spotted in the southeast corner of the park. A state official said the coyote died as he was being tagged for release into the wild on March 30. He stopped breathing and could not be revived.

"Hal" the coyote mugs it up for the camera after being captured in New York's Central Park Wednesday, March 22, 2006. The coyote led dozens of police officers on foot and in a helicopter on a two-day chase before being captured.

A coyote nicknamed "Hal" sits in a cage after it was captured Wednesday, March 22, 2006. Police in New York City used a helicopter and sharpshooters armed with tranquilizer guns to capture the coyote near Belvedere Castle, close to 79th Street and Central Park West around 10 a.m.

New York City Police Department Emergency Service Unit officers chase a coyote in Central Park on March 22, 2006. The coyote, nicknamed "Hal" by Parks Department staffers, may have wandered into the city from Westchester County or New Jersey officials said. A state official said Hal died as he was being tagged for release into the wild on March 30.

The coyote proved to be quite adept at avoiding capture, jumping into the water, ducking under a bridge and scampering through an ice skating rink on the grounds of Central Park before its capture by police Wednesday, March 22, 2006. Officials said the tawny-colored animal was about a year old and weighed about 35 pounds.

NYPD sharpshooters armed with tranquilizer guns pursue a wily coyote that was captured in New York's Central Park on Wednesday, March 22, 2006. Another coyote found its way to Central Park in 1999 and is now kept in the Queens Zoo. Hal was slated for release in the California Hill State Forest upstate in Putnam County, N.Y., but stopped breathing as he was being tagged for release and died.