IN 1972 a band of angry and frightened mothers gathered around a Swindon Advertiser reporter to tell their stories.

The cause of their fear?

A pack of up to 20 wild dogs which roamed their neighbourhood, attacking children.

Park South was one of many areas across the country suffering similar problems at the time.

We said: “Mothers say they have to beat the dogs off with sticks and make detours to avoid angry packs.

“Now the mums are getting angry. They have sent in a 100-signature petition to Swindon Corporation, have called on councillors and Swindon’s MP, Mr David Stoddart, and have threatened a possible rent strike.”

It would be at least a decade before pet neutering became commonplace in Britain, and microchipping was still science fiction, so there was little to prevent small numbers of stray dogs from becoming packs.

These packs could be seen roaming in parts of most cities and large towns.

The Park South pack, according to local people, had grabbed a five-year-old boy by the arm only the day before, cornered an elderly woman in her flat and bitten a teenager called Diane Harris, who agreed to be photographed.

Protest leader Anne Kilderry told us: “The children are petrified to go to school and come home again, and are terrified of being bitten.

“When one child was bitten the police said they could do nothing and handed the affair over to the Civic Offices.

“We sent in the petition – one of the people who signed was a policeman – and the housing manager said he couldn’t take action because they didn’t know who owned the dogs.” It took the intervention of Mr Stoddart before the corporation and police agreed to do anything about the danger. A day later it was announced that they were in talks to give officers new powers to impound strays.