THEY raise the hackles of urban and seaside dwellers like no other members of the animal kingdom. Seagulls snatch take-away food, keep people awake at night with their squawking and litter the streets with their droppings.

In Glasgow, gull numbers have boomed in the past 25 years thanks mainly to the explosion in fast-food outlets and the city council say the number of complaints about the menace birds are rising.

Beating the birds - by hawk or by crook OVER the years many efforts have been made to curb the spread of seagulls. Wishaw pest control firm Hawkman Services employs eight hawks and a falcon to scare away the birds. Reader Poll With seagulls plaguing the city, is it time to take radical action, such as the use of poison, to rid Glasgow of the much-maligned rats of the sky? Yes 81.4% No 14.7% Don't know 3.9% Last year the company employed a Harris hawk -Aurora 2 - which had hit the headlines for attacking a Yorkshire terrier as part of its seagull hit squad. The hawk was used to scare off gulls nesting on the roof of the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries building. In 2005 terrified council workers in Glasgow changed their route to and from work because they were being dive-bombed by gulls. The birds had taken up residence at the junction of West George Street and Pitt Street, near Strath-clyde Police HQ. Hawk handler David Allan became the "Birdman of Kirkintilloch" in 1990 when he took to standing on top of his garage roof with his Harris hawk to scare away gulls. And in the 1970s and 80s birdman John Cameron and his Cameron's Commandos waged a long war with starlings that had infested the city, scaring them away from George Square with pipers and flashing lights.

In some cities they have become such a pest house prices have fallen where they congregate and residents have shot them to keep numbers down.

Attacks on humans have taken place in scenes reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

A Glasgow City Council spokesman admitted today: "Our public health unit has seen a rise in complaints about the behaviour of seagulls and some of the problems that they can cause over recent years, mainly noise, aggression, faeces and also birds disturbing refuse."

Recent incidents have shown that nothing is safe from the marauders of the sky.

At last weekend's Glasgow Show a bird of prey was chased by what onlookers described as a "gang" of up to 50 angry gulls.

The gyr falcon failed to return to its handler after it had been "dive-bombed". But it was found safely two days later on a roof at the city's Victoria Infirmary and returned to handler Gary Swainson.

At the Faslane naval base, sailors watched in astonishment as Blackie the kitten was snatched from its mother and then dropped onto a barbed wire fence by a menacing gull. The five-week-old feline required stitches to its paw.

And, in Dumfries, a couple told of how they're prisoners in their own home due to a gull nesting in their roof.

The crazed two-winged assassin swoops and excrements on Anthony and Margaret Culshaw continuously - and it's even ambushed their car. The kitten's attacker, a black-backed gull, is one of two large gull species to have moved from their traditional coastal feeding grounds to city centres.

The other - the herring gull - can grow to 27 inches long and has a maximum wing span of 63 inches, making it a fearsome predator.

Glasgow Tory MSP Bill Aitken has for years called for the spread of gulls to be controlled.

He said: "The seagulls have become much more aggressive in recent years, but the main problem is that people do not dispose of excess food properly.

"This creates a mess and also attracts the seagulls."

The situation in other towns and cities in Scotland had become so bad that earlier this year the Scottish Government held a "Seagull Summit" in badly affected Dumfries.

A government spokesman said they did not underestimate the problem but added there were no "easy and fast answers".

Environment Minister Michael Russell said: "Seagulls are a real nuisance. Last month we held a summit to discuss what can be done about the issue.

"I want to see this as a first step in helping Scottish communities find solutions to the problem."

Toby Wilson, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "Birds are attracted because of food sources and the more there are then the more birds will come.

"Gulls will often defend nests on top of buildings and sometimes if people are walking underneath they will swoop."

He said such incidents were "sporadic" but that there tended to be "hot spots" in towns and cities.

But the council spokesman said: "The council does not have statutory powers with which to deal with complaints.

"For example, where seagulls nest on private property, it is the responsibility of the owner to take action.

"Ultimately though, gulls will nest and breed where there is a reliable source of food.

"The council strongly discourages residents from feeding them - and will take enforcement action where we are aware of refuse that has been inappropriately disposed of."