Pensioner has heart attack after seagull scare

Glenrothes woman tells of ordeal.

A Glenrothes pensioner who suffered a heart attack after being targeted by an aggressive gull says she cannot sleep since her terrifying ordeal.

Margaret Cruickshanks is still experiencing flashbacks to last Thursday’s horrific attack 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 walked me home.”

On returning to her son’s home, Mrs Cruickshanks began to feel chest pains and took paracetamol before returning to her flat in Glenrothes.

However, the pains continued and she dialled 999, with paramedics informing her 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 she has no doubt her heart attack was triggered by the gull attack, and said the incident had left more than just physical wounds. a man and he

Now recovering at home, she said: “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.”

Picture: Steven Brown. Mrs Cruickshanks believes the gull attack was responsible for her having a heart attack.