A brave little Jack Russell terrier has died after saving five children from an attack by two dogs.
The hero dog, named George, was so severely mauled in the fight he had to be destroyed, his distraught owner has revealed.
George was playing with the group of children as they returned home from buying sweets at a neighborhood shop in the small North Island town of Manaia in New Zealand.
The two dogs appeared and lunged toward them, his owner Allan Gay said.
He added: “George was brave - he took them on and he’s not even a foot high. He jumped in on them, he tried to keep them off.
“If it wasn’t for George, those kids would have copped it.”
One of the children, 11-year-old Richard Rosewarne told how George fought with the dogs to keep them off his four-year-old brother, Darryl.
“George tried to protect us by barking and rushing at them, but they started to bite him - one on the head and the other on the back,” Rosewarne said.
“We ran off crying and some people saw what was happening and rescued George.”
But nine-year-old George was so severaly injured that a veterinarian had to put him down.
Mr Gay added: “The two dogs ripped the skin from his throat and chest and down his back.”
South Taranaki District Council official Graham Young said the two attack dogs had been impounded, and likely would be destroyed because of the attack.
In New Zealand, owners of dogs judged to be too aggressive can be required to have them neutered and dogs involved in attacks are destroyed
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