Ian Zacher, 72, said he feared for his life when attacked by the brown Staffordshire terrier outside his Moruya home at about 11.30am.

“I was cutting down trees outside my home and mulching them, and the noise of the mulching machine may have agitated the dog,” he said. 

He said he was wearing ear muffs at the time and was not aware of the danger until the dog, which he said was owned by a girl one street away, attacked him from behind.

“It stuck its teeth into my calf,” he said.

“It had a choker chain but no rope and the girl was trying to get it off me.”

He said the girl eventually got the dog away from him, after which went to hospital with deep puncture wounds and bruising, and received a tetanus shot.

“I feared for my life,” he said.

He said the dog was known to be “extremely dangerous” and that a neighbour had videoed it attacking another person a few weeks ago.

He called the police and the council, but said that the dog was being hidden from the authorities.

“I take my dog walking every day and have had multiple dog incidents, but this was by far the worst,” he said.

Mr Zacher said that laws had to be changed to give police more powers to confiscate problem dogs.

“The rules have got to be changed, and that goes back to parliament,” he said. 

A council spokeswoman said the following: 

“This dog was classified as dangerous under the Companion Animals Act by Council rangers last month,” she said.

“Fines and instructions for how the dog needs to be managed were issued by council rangers to the owner at that time, and rangers have visited the property a number of times to attempt to seize the dog.  

“Police attended Saturday’s attack and contacted Council rangers after the incident. Council will issue a court notice and further fines, and continue attempting to seize the dangerous dog.”