A man in central China bit a dog to death while rescuing his own puppy from the animal.

Geng, the owner of the puppy, was unwilling to talk much about the incident to a local newspaper. He did say that he only strangled the dog, not bit it. Neighbors who examined the dog after the 10-minute fight said that the wounds on the canine's neck clearly came from bites.

"I was on the night guard of my watermelon field when I heard cries from my pet dog," said Geng.

He then saw a large dog holding his puppy in its mouth, reported the Shanghai Daily. "I threw several watermelons towards it, but all in vain. And it seemed that my pet would be bitten to death soon."

Geng is famous in the village for usually biting others when in a fight, villagers said.

Geng's puppy survived.