TWO pitbull dogs savaged a puppy in front of its young owner and bit two people as they tried to rescue it, a court heard.

The illegal fighting dogs, belonging to 21-year-old Oziar Puda, of View Street, Daubhill, must now be destroyed under the orders of Bolton magistrates.

The court heard yesterday that on August 21, the dogs escaped from the back yard of a house in Blackwood Street, Great, Lever, the home of Kelly Mort, who is the mother of Puda’s girlfriend. The dogs ran on to a nearby recreation ground, known as Walker’s Field, where a man and his seven-yearold daughter were walking their Jack Russell puppy.

The man picked up the puppy to protect it, but the pitbulls tore it from his arms and savaged it. The puppy had to be put down.

The owner and another member of the public both had their hands bitten in the attack which ended when Mort, aged 35, dragged the dogs away.

The court heard that Puda, a convicted drug dealer, had the two dangerous dogs as a status symbol to say “don’t mess with me”.

Puda pleaded guilty to owning a fighting dog and breeding fighting dogs, while Mort pleaded guilty to having custody of a fighting dog and allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place.

Both were banned from keeping dogs for 10 years and given 12- month supervision orders.

Mort must also pay £200 compensation to one of the men who was bitten by the dogs and Puda must do 175 hours of unpaid work and abide by a 16-week curfew from 7pm to 7am.

Magistrates ordered the destruction of the two dogs, called Scooby and Sky, and their young puppy.