It's a bird! It's a plane! It's ... actually, just birds. More specifically, seagulls that have gone on the attack in Cornwall, England, causing a public outcry that has gone all the way up to 10 Downing Street.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told BBC Radio Cornwall on Friday that the bird problem needs to be solved. "I think a big conversation needs to happen about this, and frankly, the people we need to listen to are people who really understand this issue in Cornwall and the potential effects it is having."
Just recently, according to news reports, angry birds have killed a dog and a tortoise in the area. Stig the tortoise was found flipped over and pecked at, according to the BBC. His owner, Jan Byrne said, "It was like a bloody scene from a horror movie, I found Stig upside down with blood pouring from his wounds." He died from an infection.
A Yorkshire terrier named Roo was killed in the garden of a home in Cornwall, and a Chihuahua puppy was killed in May by seagulls.
One peckish bird tried to nab a Cornish pasty from a woman at the beach.
The Telegraph says Cameron's "commitment comes despite his own Government axing a £250,000 fund research into aggressive urban gulls [that] was scrapped because it was a 'low priority.' " Cameron says despite his desire to solve the problem, it's difficult for him to do anything about it because seagulls are protected.
Elsewhere, a concert pianist named Paul Lewis, who plays with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, was injured in a seagull attack in June, the Telegraph reported.
The newspaper quoted Lewis as saying:
" 'I got out of my car and it was only 10 metres or so to the rehearsal venue. This seagull just swooped down at me from behind. I wasn't aware of it until it touched the top of my head. I don't know how heavy seagulls are but it certainly wasn't light. '" 'When that happened I instinctively ducked and ran and lost my balance. I put my hand out as I fell, and sprained it.' "
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