Horror as woman, 70, hospitalised after 'almighty whack' from seagull

A 70-year-old woman was hospitalised with a head injury after a seagull swooped down to attack her from behind. Lesley Wright was walking down her street to a neighbour's house in Moray, northeast Scotland, when the bird hit the back of her head, sending her crashing to the pavement. The 70-year-old said she felt an "almighty whack", then realised her head was dripping with blood - only joining the dots after hearing the gull squawking behind her.

Ms Wright, who was left with a bald patch and scar after receiving hospital treatment, said she is now "wary" of the sea birds. "If I'm out, and I see seagulls or a chick around, I tend to start looking up in the air to make sure none are coming near me," she said. "I do wonder why they're a protected species - they're not nice to look at, and all you can hear at three or four o'clock in the morning is them squawking."

Gulls are protected in the UK under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act, making it illegal to intentionally harm, kill them or damage or destroy their nests while in use.

After her attack, Ms Wright sees things differently, however. "I've seen quite a few incidents where they've been eating sandwiches out of people's hands on the high street, and my husband says they always go for the dog at the top of the street," she said.

"People call them flying rats - so why are they protected?"

The 70-year-old's friend, lash technician Selina Ho, brought her a bottle of water after learning of the incident and attempted to clean up her wounds with a towel before rushing her to the hospital for medical care.

The attack came less than a fortnight after a man brutally kicked a seagull to death after it swooped down to steal his fish and chips near Marine Parade in Barmouth, Wales.

The herring gull was kicked by the furious customer, and later died from its injuries - prompting the RSPCA to launch a public appeal to help track the guilty party down.

"Sadly, many people have an unfavourable opinion of gulls - but these are intelligent animals who form strong social bonds with each other, and deserve to be treated with respect," Julia Dalgleish, RSPCA animal rescue officer, said.

A group of baby seagulls were also killed by a man with an umbrella in Bath last month after they gathered on the roof of a shopping centre, and another baby gull was found dead in Liverpool on July 1, with the RSPCA obtaining footage of a man smashing its head against a rubbish bin before throwing it inside.