Three Rottweilers which savagely attacked a motorist have escaped being put down because they cannot be identified from among the owner's pack of six dogs.
A 52-year-old Auckland man was savaged when he stopped to get petrol at the Rangitaiki Tavern, on the Taupo-Napier highway, about 8.30 am onWednesday.
The dogs attacked his legs and went for his throat.
He was bitten on his upper thighs before he managed to fight off the dogs, hitting one of them in the throat with his mobile phone.
The victim, who does not want to be identified, managed to get back into his car.
The dogs attacked the vehicle before he drove off.
Cherry Hewitt, the senior dog control officer at Taupo, said yesterday that she would have sought a court order to put the dogs down - three of the six belonging to Rangitaiki Tavern owner Paul Ewing - but the victim could not pick them out.
Now all six Rottweilers would be classified as dangerous, she said.
They would have to be kept in a fenced area, be neutered, muzzled if they were out in a public area and Mr Ewing would have to pay 50 per cent more for the dog licences.
"We would be in real strife if we took this before the court for a destruction order because of the identification problem," said Mrs Hewitt.
The victim yesterday described the 60-second attack as the most frightening experience anybody would want to go through.
He said if the dogs could not be identified and put down, he would be happy that they were muzzled and locked up.
"I can't believe how I reacted to fight them off and avoided serious injury," the man said.
"My instinct told me I had to do something or I was not going to see much of 1999.
"My cellphone saved me because I got it and rammed it into the throat of the dog going for my throat.
"I don't know what would have happened if it had been a woman or a child that had been attacked."
Mr Ewing said he did not know of the attack until a Taupo dog control officer telephoned him.
He believed someone had let the dogs out of their locked enclosure earlier in the morning.
When the victim also rang him, Mr Ewing said he apologised to him.
