A father of two young girls is calling for a change in the law after a ferocious pitbull dog leapt into his yard and savaged the family's pet cat.

Tab Froud, of Knapton Hill, Smith's Parish, claims his two-year-old daughter was playing outside just moments before the attack and could have been the victim -- yet under current law the dog will not be destroyed.

Mr. Froud told The Royal Gazette : "On Sunday my wife called me to the window because she saw this little terrier dog in the yard. Then suddenly this big pitbull appeared out of nowhere and started ravaging our cat. There was blood and guts everywhere.

"The dog must have jumped over a three foot wall to get into the yard. The thing is my daughter and another little girl had been playing there about half an hour before the pitbull arrived. It could have been her that was attacked.'' Mr. Froud called a friend and the two men eventually managed to pen the dog into a window well before it was picked up by a dog warden.

But when he contacted the dog warden on Tuesday he was told that the animal -- which was unlicensed -- would not be destroyed because it had since been collected by its owner.

Mr. Froud said: "I think the law should be changed. Under the current system, if the owner claims the dog within four days then that's it.

"But I think any animal that is unlicensed or kills another animal should be put down straight away.

"The dog only lives about a quarter of a mile away from me and my family and there are loads of kids around here. What's to stop it breaking loose again?'' The owners of both the pitbull and the terrier are now being prosecuted by the Department of the Environment.

The incident is the third dog attack in four months. Last December, a man needed 360 stitches in his head after being ripped apart by two Rottweiler/Akita crossbreeds.

And in February Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness said Government would examine the possibility of tightening up dog laws after an eight-year-old girl was attacked by a pitbull.

Last night Acting Environment Director Kevin Monkman confirmed that, although the current dog law "does have some teeth'', technical officers and dog wardens would be meeting with Environment Minister Irving Pearman next month to discuss how it could be improved.

"The difficulty with the current Act is that you run into the problem of what a dangerous dog actually is,'' he said.

"And if you were to prohibit everyone from owning a pitbull, people will start to keep other dangerous dogs, for example Brazilian Fighting dogs.

"But the legislation is certainly under review and technical officers and Ministry staff will be meeting to go over the act to see what needs changing to make it more useful for both the public and dog owners.''