A DOG owner has been left distressed and injured after his miniature Dachshund was savaged to death by another dog yesterday.

Warren Jeffryes was walking Basil through Tregoniggie Woods in Falmouth at around 4pm when the horrific incident unfolded.

"Basil, was on the lead because he is usually quite yappy, but the other dog, which was about two foot tall and dark tan in colour, just went for him as Basil walked past.

"It was pretty horrific. Basil was totally, utterly traumatised by the whole thing.

"The other dog had him in its mouth for less than a minute and I whacked it on the back. The two women whose dog it was didn't make any effort to stop it."

Basil, who was less than a year old, was still just about able to walk, but repeatedly bit Warren as he tried to pick him up.

Falmouth Packet:

Basil, the Jeffryes family dog who died yesterday

The younger woman, described as tall and slim, walked off with the other dog without speaking, but Warren asked the older woman, in her 50s or 60s, to come back to his house in Conway Road in order to take some details.

However, despite returning to the house with Warren and the fatally injured Basil, she then also walked off without speaking.

"It was so fortunate that I didn't have my two young sons with me, because they usually come for a walk too. My eldest son saw Basil in the garden before I took him to the vet's and he is quite upset."

Unfortunately the dog died shortly after arriving at the vet's, having suffered internal injuries.

Warren, who is the head greenkeeper at Budock Vean Golf Club, added: "I just want to know who the women were and what they have to say about what happened. If my dog had done what theirs did, I'd have it put down straight away."

The Packet visited the scene with Warren this morning and spoke to a woman who was walking her dog.

"Everyone is talking about it, it's just not what you expect to happen. So many people bring their dogs down here and also toddlers and their parents come for a walk in here from the nearby nursery. It doesn't bear thinking about," she said.

Anyone with any information on the attack can call police on 101 and quote crime reference number CR/033629/19.