While I agree somewhat with your review - Shreve did address that issue in book and on her blog. By the time the Coyote was old enough to be self-sufficient it was already too dependent and to comfortable with humans to do so. And that did happen before any of the money was coming in from photos or books.

It's important that people don't raise wild animals the way she did and then set them free - it makes them a danger to other animals and people. Great care must be taken to raise a wild animal in such a way that it does not thing of people as "friends" or a food source and she just didn't know enough at the time to do that. It's not a bad thing it's just the way it played out. He could be dead in the den with all his brothers and sisters - instead he is alive today enriching someone's life.