It's not the number of coyotes that is causing problems in urban/suburban areas (like Framingham or Mattapan) it is their behavior. People in these neighborhoods allow coyotes to develop this behavior. The animals will test people out, after watching them from a distance, they start to come closer to homes and stay out in daylight hours.People in the neighborhood reinforce this behavior, either through fear or nonchalance, by running the otherway, ignoring the canines presence or actually rewarding them and trying to get them closer (disturb dens to get a picture of the pups, or directly reward them with food by hand feeding). Once they learn that "these furless, pink things on 2 legs" aren't a threat they can become bold and sometimes as domesticated as a dog. I've heard about areas where they sleep on peoples porches! Coyotes are just like dogs, they have a dominant/submissive territorial social structure and we as humans have to assert the dominance from the beginning. In tight neighborhoods where houses are packed like sardines you can't discharge a firearm and can't use the most efficient traps for canines in MA, they learn very quickly not to fear people. This doesn't mean they start to see us as prey, because they don't. They start to believe our yards are their territories and become more visible.
Those coyotes in Framingham were severly infected with mange (which happens high density wildlife populationis) with no fur on their tails and municipal ACO's have authority to euthanize sick wildlife.