A delivery driver savaged by a dog in Bradford remains in hospital where he is continuing to undergo lengthy surgery on his horrendous injuries.

Rajam Gupta, manager at Bierley Pharmacy where 62-year-old Chris Hirst worked, warned yesterday that it was “still very early days” to know whether he will fully recover from his terrifying ordeal and injuries.

“We are all praying for him that he makes a good recovery. He is still very poorly and has had a lot of long operations but he is getting some sensation back in his right hand and fingers,” Mr Gupta said.

Mr Hirst’s arm was snapped in two during the attack last month as he was delivering prescription medication to an address in Fairfax Crescent, Bierley.

The dad-of-two, of Tyersal, has said he owes his life to passer-by Danny Gomersall, who hit the American bulldog with a shovel after it locked its teeth into his right arm, mauling him for about ten minutes.

His rescuer Mr Gomersall, 27, has already visited him in Leeds General Infirmary and is hoping to see him again tomorrow if he is well enough.

Mr Gomersall said: “I’m keeping in touch with his son.

“He has been up and about a bit but that was before an operation he had that lasted about 12 hours.

“They have been taking muscle from somewhere to put in his forearm. He also lost about three inches of bone and they are going to try to stretch it somehow. The last I heard he is on the high dependency unit.

“I’ve texted his son to see if I can go at the weekend but he says he’s a bit low at the moment so I’m not sure. My nan lives next to his sister so she is telling us news.”

Dad-of-one Mr Gomersall had to cover Mr Hirst’s protruding bone with a pillow case while waiting for an ambulance to arrive. He had been in the garden of his home nearby with his two-year-old daughter when he heard screams.

He took on the dog, hitting it at least ten times and dragged Mr Hirst to safety, even returning to the garden to retrieve Mr Hirst’s belongings.

He said he had found Mr Hirst lying curled up on the ground desperately trying to protect himself from the dog’s jaws.

As well as the injuries to his right arm, he is believed to have suffered a fracture and bites to his left arm, as well as puncture wounds to his thighs.

American bulldogs are not on the national dangerous dogs list. Police are continuing to investigate the circumstances of the attack.

The Government announced in February this year that it would extend the dangerous dogs legislation to make it an offence for a dog to be dangerously out of control in any place, including all private property.