Pensioner held hostage by seagulls Gull attacks have become such a problem in one Cornish street that the Royal Mail halted all deliveries, while a number of people have been hospitalised in attacks. Ms Freeman, a retired care worker, moved into the semi-detached home with her brother about a year ago. The gulls began to arrive when she put out food for small garden birds, and eventually a pair set up nest in her chimney. The adult birds were very protective of their young, she said, and caused "pandemonium" when one fell out of the nest. The parents refused to leave the young bird's side in her garden. The male would sit on their shed roof, 3ft at the house, and squawk at Ms Freeman and her brother Jim, 67, and both of the adult would swoop at them when they left the house in an attempt to scare them off. The birds also vomited on the pair, a technique they use to ward of predators, but an experience Ms Freedman described as "vile." The Freemans' said they waited with bated breath for the chick to learn to fly and when it finally did after four days the parents left the garden.