A four-year-old boy was almost blinded after being attacked by “gangster(流氓)” seagulls while eating an ice cream. Little Leon Lu-Dexter was left with facial injuries and scratches just an inch from his eye following the attack on Saturday. Around three aggressive birds attempted to snatch(抢夺) the snack from his hand and went for his face as he dropped the cone in terror.

The father-of-two, Aaron Dexter, is now calling for tough action to deal with the “little gangsters”. He said, “Nothing really happened at first, but then there was a kerfuffle(混乱) and when I turned around, there were two or three seagulls around his head. There was this big scratch on his face, and thankfully the scar has gone now, but it worries me how close it was to his eye — it could have been something a lot more.” He added, “I looked at my daughter Molly to make sure she was safe with pushchair and Leon just said ‘they got my face’”. He had a huge red mark under his eye. I was angry as they were still hovering as the cone was on the floor. He is fine now, but is scared of the seagulls as a result. And they are everywhere where we live. It is terrifying to think what could have happened. I am not sure if it was the beak or the feet but he could have been blinded.”

Mr Dexter, of Ilfracombe, believes the gulls have become even more aggressive in recent months, with the problem fueled by tourists feeding them. He added, “Something needs to be done about it. We are now getting them attacking people. What would have happened if a dog had done it? They would have probably been put down if they attacked children. Why can nothing be done to seagulls?”