Emma Pritchard|

Life in Peppermint Place and Silverton Street in South Grafton, isn’t how it used to be.
The birds don’t sing as loudly, or as often, as they once did.
The mob of between 25 and 30 kangaroos, which once frequented a gully close to homes, is significantly decreasing.
Only a handful of females, along with their joeys and a few adolescents, remain.
But they don’t graze and frolic as carefree as they once did.
And they can’t relax.
They remain alert and overly cautious, because they don’t know when danger may appear.
The local residents don’t either.
After witnessing four pig dogs unleash a devastating attack which resulted in the deaths of two kangaroos and a joey on Australia Day, Trish Campbell and her neighbours remain vigilant.
They continue to warn visitors to the area to exercise caution, keep their dogs on a leash and their children close by.
After reporting the fatal attack to Clarence Valley Council Rangers, Grafton Police and WIRES, Ms Campbell and her neighbors are still wary every time they look out their windows or venture outside.
They don’t know if the dogs responsible for the attack have been located, or if their owners have been notified.
They are also concerned that the carcasses of dead kangaroos which remain in the gully, are attracting stray dogs and other scavengers into the residential area.
Ms Campbell said local residents are dissatisfied with the action of authorities in response to the ongoing issue of dangerous dogs in the area, the threats and persistent danger they represent to the community, and the lack of communication.
“There is a significant level of frustration which we (residents) are experiencing,” Ms Campbell explained.
“We don’t know if the dogs which attacked and killed the kangaroos a fortnight ago have been identified and their owners informed of what’s been happening, we don’t know what investigations have been done or are currently ongoing, we don’t know how many of the dogs are still in the area and we don’t know when or if they might reappear.
“The wildlife in the gully is decreasing, the animals are scared, even resident dogs in secured yards are barking more frequently because they know something is around, they can probably sense it.
“We’re all on high alert and we want this matter to be taken seriously.”
Ms Campbell has met and spoken to three individual CVC rangers and spoke to another over the phone.
Each ranger was given descriptions of the four dogs involved in the Australia Day attack and Ms Campbell said the residents were promised more patrols would take place in the surrounding area, a promise she says, hasn’t been delivered.
While Ms Campbell said one ranger visited the area for an hour on February 2 and another conducted a drive through the next day, she is disappointed no follow up patrols have taken place.
Recently, Ms Campbell saw two of the dogs involved in the Australia Day attack reappear in the gully where they chased a small mob of kangaroos before she sounded an air horn to scare them away.
“If the dogs are still here, the community is still in danger, and something needs to be done” she said.
“What happens is a person or a child is attacked or killed?
“What happens then?”