Kitten carried off and baby attacked as birds pose danger

A kitten which was carried off into the air and a baby attacked in its pram were among a series of vicious local gull incidents.

Zoe Walker’s 12-week-old kitten Smokey was scooped up by an aggressive gull in her back garden.

Zoe, originally from Dundee, said: “I let the kitten outside for the first time and she seemed happy. I ran in for two minutes and when I came out a massive seagull had picked her up.

“She was a good few feet in the air. We had to chuck stones at the seagull to make it let go.”

Thankfully little Smokey survived the terrifying encounter.

The Courier asked for gull stories to be posted online we’ve been inundated with responses.

Christine Hoggan Walker witnessed a gull swoop into a pram on Kirkcaldy High Street, swiping food from the baby’s hand and leaving the infant with a cut face.

Lynne Robertson Glen was dive bombed twice walking her dog up Dundee’s Forebank Road.

Donna McLaren was with her children Calum, 10, Ellie, 8, and fivemonth old baby Cayden in Dundee city centre when a gull attacked.

“I was pushing my son in his pram when a gull swooped down and grabbed my pastie out of my hand,” she said.

Meanwhile, Paul Allan and his three-year old son Murray had food stolen in Dundee’s City Square.

Former Wave 102 DJ Gary Robinson infamously had his nose broken in a gull attack on Dundee’s Perth Road.

“It was relentless,” he said. “I wasn’t eating anything at the time so I think they must have been nesting nearby.”

Not everyone dislikes the birds, however. Several readers wrote in to say they enjoy their presence in the urban setting.

Callum Smith from Dundee posted a picture of a gull on his window ledge. “This is my pal who sits in the window and watches me when I’m on the computer,” he said. “She causes no bother whatsoever – apart from tapping on the window at 4am wanting breakfast.”