Britain’s meanest seagulls are making life a misery for a blind woman and her guide dog – who are too scared to leave the house for fear of being attacked.
Megan Paul, 24, is harassed by a pair of vicious gulls whenever she and her four-year-old pooch Tate go outside.
The territorial birds squawk, surround and swoop down on Megan and Tate, often dive-bombing the dog and trying to peck its EYES.
Things have become so bad that Megan can longer get the bus to work for fear of being attacked en route.
To avoid them she has to fork out £32 a day for a taxi from her front door in Cheltenham, Glos., to the office where she works in Gloucester city centre.
Council worker Megan, who was born with no sight and is registered blind, said the gulls only became aggressive towards her and Tate in May this year.
But the area’s native pests are notoriously dangerous, with one anxious dog owner claiming that last year, a determined gull tried to fly off with her Yorkshire terrier.
Megan said: “It started a few months ago. I was standing at the lights at a crossing, waiting to cross on the way to work.
“A seagull flew very low over me and Tate. I didn’t think anything of it but the same thing happened the next day and the day after.
“I thought, ‘This is scary.’ They were flying so low they were touching my head which was unnerving.”
To work out what was happening, Megan asked her boyfriend to walk to the bus stop, which is next to the Brewery Quarter, a busy food court, with her.
“He could see that as we were approaching the food court, these two seagulls were flying around,” Megan said.
“They saw us coming and were getting more threatened and making these really weird, nasty call noises which sounds like an evil laugh
“As I got closer they went completely silent and started to swoop at us.”
Megan said mild-mannered Tate, a Labrador/Retriever cross, doesn’t bark or kick up a fuss when the birds attack but that he has developed a fear of them too.
“It happens every time we go outside. They make these threatening call noises and follow me and Tate,” she said.
“I have no idea where they are but they come out of nowhere.
“We have both developed a real fear of them. I’m completely on edge whenever I go outside.
“Sometimes I hear people laughing and think they are seagulls. If I hear a threatening cry I feel really anxious.
“I have lost the ability to go to my bus stop independently because of these gulls.
“I really think something needs to be done. If they are going to be so aggressive I don’t think they should be there.
“I absolutely hate them and I’m terrified of them. They are out of control.”
Watch Megan telling her story here:
