A dog owner has slammed animal wardens for not giving her the chance to save her pet by sending him abroad.

Tishae Davis’s dog Kash was seized from her home on Tuesday morning because wardens believed he had been illegally bred. The pet, which Ms Davis had owned together with Angela James for over a year, was euthanised on Tuesday night.

Ms Davis told The Royal Gazette she was left devastated by the news that Kash had been put down, and insisted she should have at least been allowed to send him to her aunt in North Carolina to care for.

“This has been a horrible experience. I still can’t believe they have killed him,” she said.

“My puppy does not come running to the door when I get home now. He was like a child to me, now the house just feels empty.

“I asked the dog wardens if I could send him abroad, but they just said no.”

Ms Davis initially believed that her dog had been seized because the wardens thought it was a pitbull, which is a prohibited breed in Bermuda. She maintains that Kash was a fox terrier/Staffordshire terrier cross, although she admits that Kash was not licensed.

On Tuesday a spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection said the dog had been seized because it had been determined that it was the product of illegal breeding.

The spokesman later confirmed that the “illegal pitbull-type dog” had been euthanised after “careful review”.

He added: “The resources, costs and logistics required to deal with collected illegal dogs whose owners want to transport them overseas are prohibitive for the public purse.

“Consequently, it can’t be undertaken by the Department, as the Government cannot bear the cost of housing and caring for an illegal animal throughout the associated delays.

“Owners of illegal dogs are reminded that they may export their dogs before the animal is collected by the Department.

“Owners have to bear the cost of the transfer and associated expenses, and should anticipate logistical challenges caused by the destination jurisdiction and airline restrictions.”

Ms Davis maintained that tests were never done to confirm whether her dog was a pitbull and that she was never given the opportunity to send it abroad.

She said: “I thought they would do blood tests to determine if he was a pitbull and I would at least have had time to make other arrangement.

“The regulations that govern what the dog wardens can and can not do are ridiculous. It seems so unfair.

“I would not want anyone else to go through what I have gone through. It has been terrible.

“Kash was only one year old. He did not deserve this.”