Coyote in the City

Yahoo News and the NYTimes reports that a wild coyote somehow made its way into New York City and has been roaming Central Park for days. Park Authorities named the coyote Hal. (Hal has since been tranquilized and trucked upstate to a wildlife reserve.)

At first, I thought this story was charming. How strange that a wild animal find its way into the city and then evade authorities for days by leaping into the pond and swimming away, among other tactics. Part of the description of the Hal Chase goes like this:

"The posse chasing Hal cornered him by the Heckscher Ballfields, but he got away again. Hal retreated to the sanctuary, where a pile of feathers suggested that he had made a meal of a bird, probably a pigeon, Mr. Benepe said. After a quick swim across the sanctuary's duck pond, he sprinted past the rink, where an actress in a wig was doing figure eights."

But the last few sentences of the story kind of ruined it for me: Another coyote who was in the city in 1999 was taken to the Queens Zoo. Why couldn't they set him free again like they did for Hal?