An animal advocacy group has condemned Government’s decision to put down two illegal pit bull dogs.

“This type of event, which is traumatic for both the pet and the owners, is exactly what we advocate against because we should have a well organised and humane system for dealing with larger dog breeds,” said Grace Markham, a spokeswoman for Punish the Deed not the Breed Bermuda.

The group, which has been petitioning Minister of Environment Jeanne Atherden to reclassify pit bull dogs as a restricted rather than prohibited breed, described the practice of obtaining someone’s pet and putting it down without permission as “very disturbing” and “unjust”.

Ms Markham spoke out after Government confirmed last night that two seized dogs were to be put to sleep.

“Having obtained a warrant, animal wardens, accompanied by the Police, conducted a search of a Southampton residence in which they found a two-year-old pit bull dog and a 10-week-old pit bull puppy,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health, Seniors and the Environment.

He added that both dogs were illegal and, after a discussion with the director, the decision was made to put them down.

“No satisfactory information was forthcoming on the source of the illegal dogs and for various reasons, the illegal dogs could not be transferred out of Bermuda,” the spokesman said. “A file is being prepared for the consideration of the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.”

The seizure of the dogs caused an outcry on social media at the weekend, with people calling for the legislation to be amended because it is “unjust”, “unfair” and based on “archaic” laws.

An online petition set up by Punish the Deed not the Breed Bermuda at the beginning of April has already attracted 1,080 signatures.

“While we’re happy for the show of support from the community lately, it deeply saddens us as a group that it has to come from someone losing two loving/loved pets due to the flawed system we have in place,” Ms Markham said.

“We will continue to advocate for pit bulls to be put on the restricted list, so that this senseless killing of a breed can finally come to an end.

“Dogs shouldn’t be punished for being born a specific breed.”

• For more information or to sign the petition, visit www.change.org/p/minister-of-enviroment-jeanne-atherden-remove-pit-bulls-from-the-prohibited-breed-list-and-add-it-to-the-restricted-list