Joy turned to heartbreak for one family after they discovered that the puppy stolen from their house had been recovered. But Government have now ordered it be put down.

Reyel Bowen said his pit bull puppy Hershey was found by police yesterday, but was scheduled to be killed in the evening because of its breed.

“They said they use this breed to guard drugs, but that’s not why we had Hershey. He was just a family pet,” he said. “We had taken him to puppy socialisation, to training. It’s pretty sad that he had to get put down just because he was born.”

He said Hershey was around six months old when he was stolen from his home in October. Yesterday, Mr Bowen received a call from police saying his dog had been found, and he was asked to come to the Dog Warden’s kennels to identify Hershey.

“He still recognised me and was excited to see me,” he said. “But then the dog warden told me that they would have to put him down because he is a dangerous breed.”

Mr Bowen’s mother, Gina Davis, said when they first got Hershey the family were completely unaware that dogs have to be licenced.

“I was in the post office when I saw a sign about making sure your dog is licenced,” she said. “I immediately called my son and asked him to make sure the dog was properly licenced. When he called them and said what the breed of dog was, they said it couldn’t be licenced. We had no idea at the time. I just thought a dog was a dog.”

She said the family made the decision to keep the dog, but enrolled it in weekly puppy socialisation classes. She said when the dog was stolen from the property, the family reached out to the public and the police in an effort to recover Hershey.

“We notified the police, we sent it out on Facebook, we put it in the newspaper. Hershey was a really, really beautiful animal and a part of our family,” she said. “I never really had a dog before, but it’s amazing how they become part of your family. You find yourself running home to see the dog and buying things for the dog. It just becomes a part of your life.”

Regarding pit bull’s reputation as a dangerous breed, she said: “It’s the people that have created the monster, not the dog. They aren’t born monsters. They used to be used by parents to look after their children. They were nanny dogs. These people who fight these dogs, they are evil, not the dogs.”

A spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection said: “Just as The Royal Gazette has inferred the dog is an illegal dog, and thus cannot be returned to the original owner. The theft and recovery of the animal does not legitimise the animal, and thus it is subject to the provisions of Section 7D of the Dogs Act 1978. For the Department to return the animal, the Department would be condoning the initial illegal act of breeding or obtaining the illegal dog.

“The Department would welcome the opportunity to discuss with the original owner, as well as any other perspective owners, the requirements for importing and licensing, as well as adoption options that exist with the SPCA.”