A DOG which attacked a man who was trying to protect his one-year-old baby has been "humanely destroyed" by police.

Members of the public came the man's aid armed with planks of wood in an attempt to fight off the Japanese Akita during the vicious attack on Marton Road, in Middlesbrough, on Monday evening.

The father, who suffered more than 50 bite wounds to his arms and legs, was walking with a young baby boy, who was in a pushchair, four other children and four other adults with five small shih-tzu dogs.

The dog was "humanely destroyed" hours later by armed police after being detained in its owner's garden.

The father, who is in his 20s, was taken to James Cook University Hospital with serious injuries, which are not thought to be life-threatening.