‘Get inside!’ Video shows coyote chasing young girl through backyard of home

PORTLAND, Ore. (KPTV/Gray News) - Some scary moments were caught on a family’s security camera this week as a wild animal decided to run through their backyard.

Homeowner Charlie Schmidt shared video from his northeast Portland home that showed a coyote chasing his young daughter at their house.

He was working in the yard when suddenly the animal appeared in the video along with his little girl who can be seen running toward the house.

The girl jumped on top of a picnic table in the backyard to evade the coyote.

Schmidt then can be seen picking her up while running to the other side of the house.

“Get inside, get inside!” Schmidt’s son, who was also in the backyard, yelled.

The footage showed the coyote kept running when it spotted the father until eventually wandering off down the street.

“I was shocked,” Schmidt said. “That’s the feeling I had. We do have them in the neighborhood, I see them from time to time. I’ve never seen them being aggressive, not saying that one was, but I always see them going away from people, not toward people.”

It was a startling moment, but coyotes are nothing new for Portlanders, according to Zuriel van Belle, who leads the Portland Urban Coyote Project.

“Coyotes have lived here for at least 50 years, in the city in neighborhoods,” van Belle said.

The Portland Urban Coyote Project collects community reports of coyote sightings and tracks them on a map.

“In the fall and winter, we get more sightings in general, and we think a lot of that has to do with adolescent coyotes,” van Belle said. “They look pretty much like an adult coyote, but they are venturing out on their own.”

Van Belle stressed that coyotes are rarely aggressive toward people.

“Coyote attacks are extremely rare. To put it in perspective, dog bites are a much more present risk and those are pretty rare as well,” van Belle said. “That little girl made some great decisions - calling for an adult, getting them aware of what was going on, getting up on top of something, making herself larger. Those are all ideal kinds of things to do.”

According to Schmidt, his daughter wasn’t fazed by what happened.

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