00:00A mob in suburbia, making themselves right at home.
00:06Here usually you can see at least 20 or more.
00:09I get about 30 every morning.
00:12Dozens of kangaroos are regularly gathering at Wai'e Point near Newcastle.
00:17They stroll the streets, hop among homes and lounge on lawns.
00:22The roos are popular on social media, bringing swathes of visitors who aren't always careful.
00:28I've seen tourists previously pull up to try and grab hold of joeys, even to put a joey
00:33in a bag while I was watching at one stage.
00:37The marsupials have become used to people who pet and feed them.
00:42Fried chicken has been observed being fed to kangaroos.
00:46But people are not afraid, they just come and feed them, give them carrots, things like that.
00:50Wildlife vet Dr Tanya Bishop says people shouldn't be feeding them at all.
00:55When people start feeding them, not only do they think, oh, OK, there's food, therefore
01:00the females will start breeding and create more kangaroos in that one area.
01:06In 2018, kangaroos on the grounds of the nearby Morissette Hospital became a tourist attraction
01:12before they started attacking people who didn't feed them.
01:15Here at Wai'e Point, there are fears of history repeating itself.
01:19It can either cause issues towards us, but it can also make them more vulnerable to being
01:25hurt by people also.
01:27Some get aggressive, otherwise they're very friendly.
01:30It's unclear who's responsible for controlling the kangaroos, so for now, it's squatters'
01:35rights for these furry interlopers.
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