The Hawk From Ipanema

Residents of Rio de Janeiro are strongly advised to get a copy of the Alfred Hitchcock film The Birds. Or better yet, read the original short story by Daphne du Maurier. Just to help put the hawk attacks into perspective. Not that we're trying to alarm people, but they should be aware that if they don't do something at once, they're all going to die!

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Residents of crime-plagued Rio de Janeiro have a new kind of predator to worry about — hawks. A pair of hawks have attacked more than 100 residents of the upscale Ipanema beach district over the past year, scratching peoples heads and faces, doormen working at buildings in the area said Monday.

"People leave the building carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from the attacks," said Luis Honorato, a doorman in a building near where the hawks have built a nest. "At first, they think that someone is throwing something, like a can, onto their heads from the floors above."

Honorato said that one day he saw five attacks in 20 minutes.

"Every time I leave the building I keep waving my hands over my head," said Mario Roxo, a 75-year-old chauffeur who had his head badly scratched by a hawk.

The O Globo newspaper reported that one woman lost part of her scalp to a hawk and another man mistook an attack for a stray bullet.

They're scalping people. Now do you believe us about the animal uprising?