A FIVE-year-old boy was left with injuries to his face after a seagull attacked him as he walked out of McDonald’s in Rhyl.

Caiden Sheward was with his grandmother, Caroline Sheward, when the bird swooped, cutting him just below his right eye.

Mrs Sheward said: “He only had the tiniest bit of food left when we left the restaurant – a bite-size piece. The seagull was on him as soon as he walked out of the door and bit him in his cheek. He’s feeling a bit sorry for himself now – and he’s a bit frightened of the birds outside.

“He’s lucky it hadn’t been a little bit higher, or it would have been his eye.”

Mrs Sheward had taken Caiden, a pupil at Ysgol Glan Morfa in Abergele, and his seven-month-old brother, Harry, to the restaurant after an appointment at Abergele’s Gwrych Medical centre last Thursday to treat his tonsillitis. She said: “We went straight back to the doctor, but thankfully his tetanus jab is up to date.”

Regarding the seagulls, she said: “It’s getting beyond a joke. If you sit and have a coffee in Rhyl, you see them swooping on anyone and everyone.

“I live in Towyn, which is also by the sea, but none of the seagulls there would dare swoop on someone.

“I don’t understand why is they’re so bad on the Rhyl High Street.

“Why can’t the council have netting like they do on the car parks – or bring back the man who walked around with a hawk to keep them away?”

A Denbighshire County Council spokesman said: “The council has tried a number of initiatives over the years to deal with complaints about seagulls.

“Whilst we fully recognise that seagulls are part of a coastal community life, generally there are concerns that people are feeding them and that the seagulls are able to access food through bins. The council is in the process of finalising an awareness-raising campaign, with a view to encouraging people not to feed the seagulls, which can lead to further issues.”

“We will also be working closely with the business community to encourage them to provide adequate covered bins for any food waste.”