UK tourist's eye pecked out by bird

A Welsh tourist has been blinded in one eye after an injured bird he was trying to rescue panicked and attacked him.

Michael Buckland, 38, spotted an injured gannet about to be washed away by the rising tide as he walked along a beach in South Wales three weeks ago, the Daily Mail reported.

But the bird became startled by a nearby dog as Mr Buckland was carrying it, prompting it to repeatedly peck at Mr Buckland's face with its 15cm beak.

The attack punctured Mr Buckland's right eyeball three times, cut open his nose and sliced his left eyelid in two.

"I put my right hand to my face and I felt there was a big hole where my eye was meant to be," he said.

"My eye was hanging out and I had to put it back in on the beach."

Mr Buckland is now unable to see out of his right eye, potentially making him unable to carry out his job as a welder.

Mr Buckland later found the gannet dead when he returned to the beach.