PORTLAND, Ore. — Surveillance video catches a 4-year-old running away in fear of a coyote chasing close behind her in a Northeast Portland backyard.
"Dad, there's a coyote," the child said while running.
Her dad, initially with his back turned, said "no" and then after seeing the coyote, yells "oh, (expletive)! Holy (expletive)!" and chased after it.
The 4-year-old jumps on a child picnic table in the backyard to get away. The coyote appears to pause for a second near the picnic before making its escape. The father, a Vancouver firefighter, quickly picks her up to get out of the backyard.
"There’s a coyote," said Charlie Schmidt, the father. "There’s a coyote! Quickly get inside!
Videos from security cameras around then show the coyote then run toward other children before running away.
Schmidt told KGW it's not uncommon to see coyotes around the neighborhood. Though, he'd never seen anything like this.
“I was happy that nothing happened but little scared that it was chasing them," he said. "That seems a little abnormal for their behavior.”