By DAVID GARDNER

Last updated at 09:18 29 November 2007

A British woman was mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs near her home in a Bulgarian village.

Ann Gordon was walking her pet Alsatian when she was surrounded by eight strays.

The dogs attacked, tearing her to pieces while fighting off a group of children who tried to intervene.

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Last night, the 56-year-old's husband, Jim, said the youngsters summoned him from his house but he arrived too late to help.

Mrs Gordon, who suffered face, neck and torso injuries, died in his arms.

"These children knocked and said Ann was badly hurt after being bitten by some strays," Mr Gordon said last night.

"She didn't stand a chance.

"I ran out of the house and saw a crowd of people around her.

"It was terrible, she had just lost so much blood.

"I called the ambulance but there was nothing that could be done. She had lost too much blood. She died there and then."

Friends said Mrs Gordon had been bitten at least three times before by strays that roamed her neighbourhood in packs.

She had complained to one neighbour about his violent dogs but apparently was ignored.

The couple had moved to the village of Nedyalsko in south-eastern Bulgaria two years ago from their home in Galloway, Scotland.

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They were among a number of Britons attracted by cheap homes and the low cost of living.

Malik Markovy, a pensioner who witnessed Tuesday afternoon's attack, said: "It was the most terrible thing I have ever seen.

"She was walking along one minute and the next these big, slavering dogs with jaws flashing rows of teeth were upon her.

"She went down with a scream and then they were on her.

"The first cut sent them into a frenzy as they tasted and smelled blood.

"I use a walking frame and was only able to hobble slowly across to her.

'"I threw a stone but it did no good.

"Then they left her and ran off in a pack, their snouts covered in blood.

"The poor, poor woman was like a bloodied rag doll, totally unrecognisable."

A police spokesman said: "It is a horrible story. I don't think anything like this has ever happened in the country."

Mrs Gordon, whose husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's five years ago, had a 33-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Days before her death, she had told a friend: "My biggest fear is dying before Jim because there will be no one to look after him."

Mr Gordon, a retired sheet-metal worker, said: "She was a very loving woman, outgoing and would help anybody - a fighter all her life.

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"No job was too big for her - she would have a shot at anything."

He said his wife, who he married 17 years ago, had learnt Bulgarian and was so immersed in the culture she had bought a horse and cart to make local trips.

Mr Gordon was cleaning out a stable when his wife was attacked.

Strays are a common problem in Bulgaria and rural-dwellers routinely carry sticks to chase off the more aggressive dogs

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Vania Tododrova, a neighbour of the Gordons, said: "These dogs have been a problem for some time but no one ever does anything about it."

Despite efforts to control them, hordes of stray dogs also roam parts of the capital, Sofia.

The city has at least 35,000 street dogs although some estimates put the figure much higher.