Pensioner left with blood pouring down her face after seagull attack
A pensioner was left with blood pouring down her face after being attacked by seagulls.
Sue Atkinson, 66, likened it to a scene from horror film "The Birds" after being dive-bombed outside a primary school in Cornwall.
Ms Atkinson managed to stagger home as blood poured down her face and was rushed to hospital with a large gash on the top of her head which had to be glued shut.
Watch ITV News Correspondent Richard Pallot's report on the increasing problems posed by seagulls at British resorts.
"All of a sudden I felt this woosh come in by my head. I saw it was a seagull and he came in again and cut the top of my head," she said.
"I couldn't see what was happening - I was oozing blood. It did frighten me. Apart from the fact I was bleeding, I was scared it was going to come back.
"It was like a scene from the film The Birds."
Sue believed the gulls that attacked her were trying to protect a fledgling chick on the pavement on the other side of the road.
The headmaster of the school near the attack has banned pupils from taking snacks outside in an attempt to deter the scavengers from the area.
A four-year-old suffered a badly gashed finger in separate seagull attack.
James Bryce was eating a sausage roll when a seagull swooped down and bit his finger during a holiday in St Ives.
His dad Alex said that the incident had left James "petrified" of seagulls and distraught.
Mr Bryce said:
Cornwall is seemingly at the heart of the epidemic of aggressive sea birds.
Last week a Yorkshire Terrier called Roo was killed after being attacked in the back garden of his family's home in Newquay, while a much-loved tortoise was pecked to death in Liskeard.
In March, it was revealed that approximately £250,000 was being set aside by the Government to tackle the 'seagull menace'.
Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron was in Cornwall and called for a further "big conversation" to be held regarding the seaside pariahs.
"I think a big conversation needs to happen about this and frankly the people we need to listen to are people who really understand this issue in Cornwall, and the potential effects it is having," Mr Cameron said.