Residents along Jordan Road and Summit Avenue have repeatedly called police to report the sightings, but police say their hands are tied because a state law prevents them from trapping and relocating the coyotes.
The same law has also recently frustrated residents in Newton, where coyotes have also been on the prowl.
Brookline selectmen said they have been lobbying local legislators to push through proposed changes to the law.
Police Chief Daniel O’Leary said reports of coyote sightings in Brookline are up sharply, from a total of 17 last year to 102 so far this year. More than 30 of the calls have come from the Corey Hill neighborhood, he said.
The town’s animal control officer, Pierre Verrier, said he’s tried to determine whether the coyotes have a den in the neighborhood, where he said a few residents have reported pet cats being eaten by the predators. The number of wild turkeys reported in Brookline has also dropped in the past year, possibly due to the coyotes, Verrier said.
Verrier said he also received a call Monday from a woman in south Brookline who reported she was chased by a coyote, but she didn’t leave her phone number for him to follow up.
Jordan Road resident Valerie Levine said she’s heard the coyotes howling at night, and has seen them so many times that she either carries her children from her car to the house, or makes them run inside whenever they return home in the dark.
“I’m worried about them being attacked,’’ she said.
When Levine first reported seeing a coyote, she said, an animal control officer recommended making loud noises to scare the animals away. But over time, the coyotes have become less fearful and no longer scare so easily, Levine said.
While she used to let her children, 3 and 5 years old, play in the yard, Levine said, she keeps them inside now unless she’s outside right beside them.
With the turkeys in the neighborhood seeming to have disappeared along with several pet cats, Levine said she worries the coyotes might come after her youngsters next.
