Unlikely animal capture in upper Manhattan

NEW YORK -- Police officers have captured a coyote in a park in upper Manhattan.

Officials say officers used tranquilizer darts to sedate the coyote in Riverside Park at about 10 p.m. Saturday.

Parks officials say the coyote was delivered to Animal Care and Control where she was examined and fed by veterinary staff and released in an "appropriate wilderness area in the Bronx" Sunday night.

Park rangers began efforts to track the coyote after numerous sightings of the critter were made by the public in the past two weeks. Most coyotes pose no danger to people.

Police cornered it in a basketball court after several hours of chasing the animal, reports CBS New York. One issue was the tranquilizer in the darts kept freezing, so officials had to keep getting warm darts to make the catch has humane as possible.

Officials say the last capture and release of a coyote in New York City took place in 2013.