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…