Aggressive seagulls are snatching food from the hands of hungry shoppers in Kirkcaldy.
A greedy gull grabbed a steak pie from the grasp of one man this week, just as he was about to take a bite.
Another was astounded when a seagull swooped on his sausage roll, while a five-year-old girl was left in floods of tears when she was robbed of her roll.
The winged assailants are causing havoc in the High Street, where people have now called for a cull.
Peter Menellis of Links Street was attacked as he left Bayne’s bakers with a steak pie on Tuesday lunchtime.
“This huge gull swooped out of nowhere,” he said. “It was gripping my arm with its claws and tried to get the pie. It hit me on the face with its wing, which was quite sore.”
Despite his mum Dorothy using a sausage roll as a decoy, the determined gull forced the 20-year-old to drop his pie before making off with it.
Another shopper told The Courier her five-year-old granddaughter had a ham roll snatched from her hand after taking just one bite on Tuesday, while Kirkcaldy man Neil Ferguson was hit in the face by a large gull which took his sausage roll.
“I’d eaten two thirds of it and was looking forward to the last bit when it came from behind me and grabbed the meat,” he said. “As it did so it slapped me in the face with its foot.”
Graeme Anderson, a technical officer with Fife Council pest control, said: “Some seagulls have learnt to associate people with food and will swoop down on them to try and steal whatever it is that is being eaten. This can be frightening, especially where children are involved.
“It is important the public do not feed gulls and we have erected signs in certain areas to highlight the problems they can cause. Council officers will also visit householders who feed birds inappropriately at home, such as scattering bread and other waste food on their lawns.”
He added: “Apart from the nuisance this can cause neighbours, such practices can also attract vermin.”
Legislation does allow property owners to take action against nesting gulls and this can include egg and nest removal.