31 January 2011 Last updated at 07:26 ET

West Midlands Police seize eight suspected pit bulls

Police in Birmingham have seized eight dogs which they believe to be pit bull terriers from a house in Handsworth Wood.

Acting on a tip-off from a member of the public, officers and specialist police dog handlers entered the house on Church Lane at 1000 GMT on Friday.

They found a bitch nursing six pups and a male dog in an external building.

They will undergo DNA tests and if found to be pit bulls, they will be destroyed.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police said there was nobody home at the time of the raid and inquiries continue to locate the dogs' owners.

Sergeant Julie Kempson, from the Handsworth Wood neighbourhood policing team, said: "Because of their natural strength and ferocity, pit bull terriers are banned by law.

"These particular dogs were seized as we believed them to be a breed banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act. Tests are currently underway to prove this."

Specialist dog handlers from the force estimate the pups to be three weeks old.