Callow Hal’s Death To Be Investigated

After Hal the coyote died shortly before he was to have been released, questions are being raised about his treatment in captivity:

Five days after the wily one known as Hal dropped dead, there’s no shortage of theories about what killed him.

Was it poison? A hidden disease? Or human error?

Hal led cops on a wild chase through Central Park last month, only to be captured and die suddenly while state wildlife officials were tagging him.

Some wildlife rehabilitators fear a Department of Environmental Conservation biologist and a Cornell graduate student who tried to tag Hal were unnecessarily rough with the stressed-out animal.

Meanwhile, a veteran wildlife pathologist performing the necropsy on Hal’s body said a heartworm infestation may have contributed to his demise — and he’s also trying to determine whether the carnivore wolfed down rodenticide.

“One thing I want to look at is did it eat something containing some poison along the way,” said Ward Stone, a top researcher with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

“There was a lot of internal bleeding, and so we want to find out the explanation for that.”

Meanwhile, the Post conjures up images of Geneva Convention violations:

Workers caring for the Central Park coyote — who died before he could be released into the wild — aggressively hogtied the animal, wrapped his snout in tape and lassoed his neck because they feared being bitten, a source said yesterday.

Hal’s shocking treatment likely contributed to the young coyote’s death as workers, under the supervision of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, tried to tag him for release back into the wild, the source said.

But a DEC expert said it’s too soon to know for sure.