A "screaming, howling" coyote that has terrorized dog walkers at the Oakdale Nature Preserve this month sent a dog to the hospital with serious injuries Monday when it attacked while a White Bear Township couple were at the park to walk their pets.

Jack Christenson said he and his wife, Terry, were near the middle of the park Monday with their three dogs when the coyote attacked Sugar, their elderly Pomeranian. "I started screaming and ran towards it," said Christenson.

The coyote backed off long enough for the Christensons to scoop up Sugar, who was on a leash, and flee. Christenson said Sugar, who weighs all of 8 pounds and is at least 16 years old, was left with a large wound and a noticeable limp.

Theirs was just the latest coyote encounter at the park, at 4444 Hadley Av. N., with others reporting an aggressive coyote that's become increasingly brazen, according to police reports. It was first seen April 8 by a man who reported seeing it run through the park. It chased a man and his dog on April 13 around 9:30 in the morning, then chased another man and his dog on April 14, this time coming close enough that the man had to kick at it when it charged, according to police records.

The coyote wasn't intimidated when it came upon Travis Sohlman's group on April 16, said the Oakdale resident. He was walking his three dogs — Mosby, Shadow and Bruno — with a friend who also had a dog when the coyote appeared. "The coyote ran up on us, howling and screaming," he said. "It had no fear."

Sohlman said he weighs close to 250 pounds, and his dogs are "fairly large," as well, but the coyote seemed to be a full grown adult. The coyote followed them for a while then left, but Sohlman said he's worried that the aggressive animal may attack small children.

Four days after Sohlman's scare, two coyotes attacked a dog being walked by its owner, biting the leg of a mini Golden Doodle around 4 p.m. on April 20, records show.

Two days later the Christensons arrived at the park for their walk with Sugar. "Probably they should start putting a bounty on these coyotes that are going crazy after dogs," said Christenson. He said he warned a young mother with three children about the attack as he was leaving the park.

"I said, 'Don't go back there,'" he said he told the woman.

Oakdale police have posted signs at the entrances to the 200-acre recreation area to alert visitors of the incident and other sightings near Granada Avenue on the west side of the facility that features prairie land, paved hiking and biking trails, a boardwalk, a playground and tennis and picnic areas, the city said in a Facebook posting.

Authorities are working with the Department of Natural Resources to address the situation, the city's announcement said.