Campaigners seeking to get pit bulls taken off the prohibited dogs list have heard nothing back from Government since they handed over a petition more than a month ago.

Gina Davis, whose pit bull puppy Hershey was put down by dog wardens in December, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that there had not even been an acknowledgment of the 2,000-signature petition so far.

“We haven’t heard anything at all from Government and it’s not like I am hard to find,” she said. “It’s a sign of disrespect.”

Last night Government said it was reserving comment until Trevor Moniz, who recently took on the Environment brief in a Cabinet reshuffle, had had a chance to be brought up to speed.

“The Ministry will reserve comment until the Minister of Health and Environment, the Hon. Trevor Moniz, JP, MP has had an opportunity to fully review the original policy and any recommendations from the Canine Advisory Committee,” said a Ministry spokesman.

The petition, launched by a group calling itself Animal Advocates of Bermuda, was initially launched in a bid to save Hershey from being put down.

The unlicensed puppy had been stolen from the home of Ms Davis and her son Reyel Bowen, recovered by police and handed over to the Department of Environmental Protection, which said it had no alternative but to destroy the animal as it was an illegal dog under the Dogs Act 1978.

The petition said: “We ask that you change the laws pertaining to the ban of pit bull ownership in Bermuda and, as a result, immediately cease the planned euthanization of Hershey and immediately return him to his family.”

Before the petition was handed over, Hershey was destroyed on December 6, prompting Ms Davis to say it was the “saddest day” of her life.

The petition, which also called for an amnesty to allow owners to get their pit bulls licensed without fear of prosecution, was given to former Environment Minister Sylvan Richards on December 13.

He told Ms Davis he’d been working with a reconvened Canine Advisory Committee for the past seven months on a review of dog laws and that the committee had “come up with a very good policy going forward, and I think that if it is enforced, and put into play, I think it would take care of a lot of the issues we have right now”.

Ms Davis said: “Nobody has heard anything else about it.”

She said dog wardens were currently targeting any animals they believed to be pit bull, without DNA proof, which she claimed was unfair.

“All these dogs that they are taking and killing are mutts,” she said. “I don’t think they do DNA in Bermuda. Personally, I don’t think Hershey was a pit bull.

“I think he had a little bit of Lab[rador] in him and he was definitely mixed with something else. I don’t know what he was. Somebody just gave him to my son.” Another suspected puppy, Isis, hit the headlines this week after being confiscated from the Pembroke home of owners Gerald and Kim Mello on Friday.

The Mellos were given ten days to get their pet off the Island to ensure it didn’t face the same fate as Hershey.

Ms Mello posted a message on Facebook earlier this week saying that she and Isis would be leaving Bermuda today.

The Animal Advocates of Bermuda petition, written by Gage Miller, attracted 2,317 signatures on the website change.org.

Another petition on the site, by large dog lovers’ group Our Misunderstood, asks for an end to “breed-specific legislation”. It has got 343 signatures so far.