BLACKIE the ship kitten has only eight lives left after ending up in the clutches of a killer gull.

The cute five-week-old feline is lucky to be alive after being snatched from its mother.

Sailors at the Faslane naval base, where the litter was being kept, spotted the gull flying away with a kitten in its grasp.

Then they watched in horror as the black-backed gull dropped the little cat into a barbed wire fence.

However, the fall turned out to be fortuitous for Blackie.

John Bellshaw, a pest control officer with the Ministry of Defence, and police constable David Duffton raced to the scene.

The pair managed to remove Blackie from the wire, but even then it wasn't plain sailing.

The kitten was losing a lot of blood and was rushed to Cobb's vet practice in Helensburgh, where a vet managed to stitch Blackie's paws.

John said: "She was absolutely terrified.

"We managed to get close enough to hold down the wire with a piece of wood, but the only way I could then get her out was to grab one of her paws and pull her through the wire.

"All her paws were really badly cut, so we had to work really quickly to get her out.

"If that hadn't worked there's absolutely no doubt I'd have had to destroy her, which I would have hated to have to do."

Blackie is now looking forward to a new life with the police officer who helped save her life.

But naval staff believe her brothers and sisters may have perished at the hands of the gull.

John said: "We were waiting until the wee cats were a tiny bit older to re-home them.

"We need the cats as they're great hunters.

"However, when I re-checked the litter, I discovered Blackie's three siblings had all gone - and I'd put money on it being the same gull.

"I have seen gulls take ducklings before, but never a kitten."