An 11-pound dog named Dexter is recovering after a coyote attacked him in Lake Oswego this year, sending his owner Donald Palmer to the veterinarian for a rabies check and a warning from officials that grew louder as coyote sightings pile up across Clackamas County. Palmer's experience is far from isolated: Lake Oswego alone logged 25 reported coyote sightings in 2026, and wildlife officials say the animals are becoming increasingly comfortable in neighborhoods where food is easy to find.
The attack on Dexter, and the broader spike in local sightings, was detailed by the West Linn Tidings, which reported that Palmer's veterinarian recommended he call Clackamas County animal control after examining Dexter and checking him for rabies. According to the paper, coyotes generally pose no major threat to people but do threaten pets, particularly small ones, a distinction that matters greatly for owners of dogs the size of Dexter, who weighs just 11 pounds. Urban coyotes, by contrast, typically weigh around 30 pounds, giving them a significant size advantage over small companion animals.
Why Coyotes Keep Showing Up In Backyards
Liz Weinberg, assistant director of the Portland Urban Coyote Project, told the outlet that coyotes generally do not pose a major threat to people but can threaten small pets, echoing the pattern seen in Palmer's case. The Portland Urban Coyote Project is a community-run tracking and education program started by researchers, and it maps coyote sightings submitted by the public. Community members have submitted more than 17,000 sighting reports to the project's database since it launched at Portland State University in 2010, according to Courthouse News Service.
Researchers with the same project estimate that between 3,340 and 8,690 coyotes live across the greater Portland metro area, with roughly 75 to 190 residing within Portland city limits proper, per the Southeast Examiner. Coyotes are found in almost every major metropolitan area, including Portland, according to Peter Iacono, an Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife biologist. Iacono's comment underscores that what Clackamas County residents are seeing is not an anomaly but part of a well-documented, nationwide urban wildlife pattern.
What Draws Coyotes Into Neighborhoods
Coyotes are an urban species, native to Mexico and Central North America, that spread into cities and suburbs as natural areas shrank and humans increasingly dominated the landscape, per the article. Ecological research from Oregon State University attributes the broader 20th-century expansion of coyotes across Western Oregon to the clearing of dense forests and the eradication of gray wolves, which let coyotes step into top predator roles in suburban ecosystems, according to Oregon State University.
Normally, coyotes eat small rodents, rabbits and birds, but in urban areas they also eat people's trash, especially fruits and meats, the West Linn Tidings reports. Food sources that habituate coyotes to human spaces include food left outside for feral cats, bird seed knocked to the ground, and fruit-bearing trees. Coyotes become habituated when people feed them or leave food accessible, and once habituated, they may lose their natural wariness and become bolder around homes and pets.
Timing Matters: Denning Season Changes Coyote Behavior
Coyotes are most active at night in urban areas, but that changes during denning and pupping season, which runs from spring into early summer, when coyote parents hunt more to feed their young and become more active during the day. Coyotes may also be active during daylight hours when they have grown habituated to people, a pattern that can make bold daytime sightings more common in neighborhoods with accessible food sources.
Weinberg recommended scaring bold coyotes away with noise until they leave the area, a technique known as hazing. People should deter bold coyotes by making a lot of noise and should continue hazing until the coyote leaves. If a coyote does not immediately run away from the noise, people should pick up their small pet, since habituated coyotes are the ones most likely to attack small pets like Dexter.
Rabies Risk Remains Low Despite Bite Fears
Palmer's veterinarian checked Dexter for rabies after the attack, a precaution that reflects standard practice even though the actual risk is low. Clackamas County Public Health data shows that rabies in Oregon coyotes is extremely rare, with bats accounting for roughly 8% of all positive animal rabies tests over the past 23 years, while coyotes account for only isolated cases statewide, according to the county's public health office.
The concern over habituated animals losing their fear of people isn't limited to pets. In February, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife launched an investigation after a coyote bit a woman on Orchard Heights Road in West Salem, an incident Hoodline covered in its piece on the West Salem coyote bite investigation, and one that highlighted the same safety concerns now surfacing in Clackamas County.
Why Trapping And Relocation Aren't Simple Fixes
Under Oregon law, specifically ORS 610.002 and ORS 496.162, coyotes are classified as unprotected mammals or predatory animals, which permits year-round hunting without bag limits, though municipal firearm ordinances and trapping restrictions limit lethal control options in urban areas like Lake Oswego. Even when a coyote is captured, state regulations prohibit relocating it elsewhere in Oregon, since relocated animals face high mortality from territorial fights, vehicle strikes and starvation, while potentially spreading disease to new areas.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife does not dispatch personnel to trap or remove coyotes unless an animal has attacked a pet in broad daylight, stalked a child, approached humans without fear, or displayed unprovoked aggression. That threshold explains why Clackamas County residents who call to ask what to do when they see a coyote are often directed toward hazing and attractant removal rather than state intervention. Oregon Revised Statute 496.731 does give law enforcement officers authority to issue written notices ordering residents to remove attractants or stop feeding potentially habituated wildlife, a category that explicitly includes coyotes alongside bears, cougars and wolves.
Public policy has also shifted away from broad lethal control in recent years. In September 2023, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted 5-1 to ban organized coyote killing contests on public lands and for species under its jurisdiction, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Residents in Clackamas County who spot a coyote that appears injured or sick are encouraged to report it, and sightings of any kind can be logged with the Portland Urban Coyote Project's public dashboard to help researchers track the population's spread.
