A DANGEROUS stray dog, that had bitten four people including two police officers, was shot dead by armed police on Wednesday.

The Staffordshire bull terrier was roaming the streets and had bitten two members of the public when police located it in Kingfisher Drive in Westbury at about 9.45pm.

Officers from Warminster were able to catch the dog and restrain it with a rope but it became aggravated and tried to attack them, managing to pull of one of the officer's gloves and biting the foot of another.

Requests for assistance from local vets, the RSCPA, the local dog warden and the police dog units proved ineffective and armed response units were brought in to kill the animal.

Inspector Steve Douglass of Warminster and Westbury police said: "The dog was chewing through the rope and pulling out the post that it had been tied too.

"Realising they couldn't restrain the dog any further they contacted the force operation room inspector and armed response officers attended and shot the dog."

The guardian of the dog, who had been looking after the animal for someone else, was located this morning because the dog had been micro chipped.

Police had not received any reports of a lost dog and it is believed the animal had been roaming the street for 45 minutes.

Insp. Douglass said: "It was sad that they had to destroy this dog, however everybody in attendance agreed that it was the correct thing to do.

"There was no other option with regards sedating the animals. No vets were able to attend and the police officers were unable to continue to restrain the dog in those conditions at the time."

No one suffered any serious injuries from the dog.