A 30-year-old Southampton man has been fined $1,000 for keeping two illegal dogs.

Appearing in Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Dion Smith pleaded guilty to keeping a black female pitbull-type dog and a fawn male pitbull-type dog without a licence in Southampton between a date unknown and May 23 last year.

The court heard that animal wardens were alerted to two dogs let loose and behaving aggressively in the neighbourhood at about 12.15am on May 23.

When they attempted to seize them, the dogs charged; the male dog was caught but the female was not.

At the Bermuda Government kennels, it was determined that the male dog was not microchipped and that no dogs were licensed to Smith’s address.

The wardens returned to his residence with a warrant and seized the female dog by entering the house through an unlocked sliding glass door. It was later determined that the female dog was also illegal.

Smith attended the kennels to claim the female dog and was told that he would be facing court proceedings for keeping two illegal dogs.

Upon hearing that the wardens had also seized the male dog, he said: “I’m glad you guys got that dog. I thought it had been stolen.”

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo handed Smith two $500 fines.

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