A FAMILY are living in fear for their pets after two out-of-control dogs broke into their garden and savaged two of their pet rabbits.

Sandra Wrobel, 34, of Cranmore Avenue, Park South, says her daughter Lucy, eight, cannot sleep at night because she is so scared the dogs will return.

Mrs Wrobel was coming home with her daughter about 3pm on April 30 when she heard loud barking coming from her back garden.

There she saw two dogs one an Alsatian, the other a mongrel attacking pet rabbits Peppermint and Coco.

She said: "They had broken down next door's fence and then broken into one of the hutches by ripping the door off its hinges.

"I shouted at them and they ran off but five minutes later they came back into the garden.

"It was only myself and my young daughter in the house and I was petrified they might turn on us.

"The rabbits were given to the family by a friend and the children loved them now we are afraid to leave the house in case the dogs come back and attack the rest of our rabbits.

"The rest of the rabbits are all scared to death now. You can't go near them or pick them up. We had to take one to the vet because he was frozen still with fear."

The dogs are not believed to be strays but the family do not know who the owners are.

The family claim the police have told them it is a civil matter and the council dog warden said the same thing, and the only way the family could pursue it is through a civil action which they pay for themselves.

Lucy is afraid to go to sleep because she is scared the dogs might come back.

She said: "I really liked Peppermint and Coco and I miss them.

"I think the rabbits know what has happened. They seem really nervous."

The same dogs later turned on family friend Jason Bourne, 13, of Park South, as he walked home.

He said: "I was really frightened Sandra had told me the dogs had been loose earlier in the day.

"They went for me and bit me on the arm. Fortunately I was wearing my coat but they even bit through that."

Nobody from the police or Swindon Council was available for comment.