A Glenrothes pensioner who suffered a heart attack after being targeted by an aggressive seagull says she cannot sleep since her terrifying ordeal.
Margaret Cruickshanks is still experiencing flashbacks to last Thursday’s horrific assault while she was walking her son’s cocker spaniel in Kirkcaldy’s Hayfield area.
The 80-year-old has had a stent fitted following her heart attack, having been transported to hospital with chest pains just hours after the winged menace latched on to her head and attempted to rip out her hair.
Describing her walk along Prime Gilt Box Street, she said: “This gull kept swooping down on me and was touching my hair with its claws.
“I thought it was unbelievable but I kept walking and the further I went the more it swooped on me.
“I never saw it coming back and it landed on my head.
“Its beak was hitting my head and trying to pull my hair out.
“I was hysterical and was screaming for help, banging on doors, but there was no answer.
“I eventually found a man and he walked me home.”
Upon returning to her son’s home, Mrs Cruickshanks began to feel chest pains and took paracetamol before returning by bus to her flat in Glenrothes.
However, the pains continued and she dialled 999, with paramedics informing her that she was suffering a heart attack.
Taken to Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital and then the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh, she has had a stent fitted to regulate her heart.
Mrs Cruickshanks says that she has no doubts that her heart attack was triggered by the seagull attack, and added that the incident had left more than just physical wounds.
Now recovering at her home, she continued: “I’m still having flashbacks.
“It sounds silly but I felt it was going for my eyes.
“I can’t sleep at night for thinking about it.”
Aggressive gulls are a problem throughout Fife’s coastal towns but Kirkcaldy has been a particular trouble spot for several years.
A nest and egg removal initiative to humanely control gull numbers in the area has been undertaken by town centre BID group Kirkcaldy 4 All, however, the species remains protected under UK law and it is illegal to intentionally kill gulls or destroy their nests.
Angered by this situation, Mrs Cruickshanks added: “What about humans? Where is our protection?”
“I’m 80 years old and was just going for a quiet walk of the dog, never thinking I was going to end up in hospital.”
