A WALKER was set upon by two German shepherd dogs as he strolled past a Pendle farm – but he wasn’t the first to encounter problems with dogs left to run wild.

Rambler Francis Galpin was making his way along a public footpath near Dam Head Farm, Roughlee, when he saw the two Alsatians running towards him, Burnley Magistrates Court was told.

One of the dogs bit him on the lower left leg and kept it’s jaws clamped on the limb until it was called off by farmer Colin Nutter, said Simon Leong, prosecuting.

The second dog jumped up towards Mr Galpin’s face and bit him on the left shoulder before falling back to the ground, the court was told.

Mr Leong said that when the victim told the farmer what had happened, he was informed that the dogs “didn’t like hoods”. The victim told the farmer he wasn’t wearing a hood.

Magistrates heard that the farmer offered to treat his injuries and pay him compensation for his troubles.

But Mr Galpin just wanted to get medical attention for the bites and went back to his car nearby.

Not only were the wounds treated at hospital, he was also given a tetanus injection to guard against infection.

Mr Leong said Pendle Council had also received a number of complaints, including some from neighbours, regarding Nutter’s Alsatians running freely around the farm area. Neighbours were particularly concerned about one of the German Shepherds, called Tyson, which was known to wander around the area, amid claims at least one other walker had been bitten over the summer.

This culminated in the authority, through a letter sent to him by executive director Philip Mousdale, serving a “community protection notice” demanding he take action to fence the dogs in.

Richard Taylor, defending, said his client had adopted a number of measures, since the incident, in an attempt to prevent the dogs from roaming.

Nutter, 47, of Dam Head Farm, admitted having dogs which were dangerously out of control on a public footpath on June 21.

Magistrates adjourned the case until November 23 to examine what measures have been taken to restrain dogs at the farm.