An unexpected move by customs officials to withhold pets brought in by air over a paperwork delay was criticised as heavy-handed by the owner of a puppy, who said her family had been put through an unduly upsetting experience.

The pet purchasing agency and customs broker involved conceded that there had been a delay in the necessary documents but said the decision not to release the animals had taken them by surprise and it was the first time it had happened.

They added that the unforeseen development served as a lesson on how to approach the process in the future.

The issue was flagged up by dog purchaser Helen Lewin after five pets brought into Bermuda by the British Airways flight on Wednesday were kept until they could be cleared yesterday morning.

“To me, it's a misplaced punishment,” Ms Lewin said of the refusal to release the four puppies and one cat.

“If customs had a problem with the way they [the companies] handled their business, take it up with them or give them fair warning.

“Don’t do this once the animals have arrived on the island and their owners are standing outside.”

She added yesterday: “I don’t know why it broke down like that. Customs last night said it happened all the time and they put their foot down this time.

“This seems to be a last-minute thing; they decided to make an example.”

Ms Lewin said she could understand if the issue concerned regular items but said the decision had ended up “penalising” pets and their owners.

“If it was a shipment of potato chips, fine, but why hold up live animals that have families to go to and have been stuck in a crate?”

She said the move would have entailed expense and inconvenience for animal wardens to “take animals to an undisclosed location” before they were released.

Once the paperwork for the animals was fully validated, they were released from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Paget at about 10.30am yesterday.

Ms Lewin said that on Wednesday evening, the puppy — a cavalier bishon poodle mix — was wheeled out in a crate with other pets past waiting families, which distressed her nine-year-old daughter, Ella.

She said they were advised to collect their puppy, Ivy, which was born on June 5, by 8am yesterday. But there was then a further delay before they were able to take their pet home.

Ms Lewin said: “I don’t think we should be finger-pointing. I just think the procedure needs to change. Sensible minds and compassionate people should reconsider it.”

Another woman kept waiting, who asked not to be named, said: “I didn’t feel any way about it. It’s life, things happen.

“I could see it if we were waiting for two days, but this was just overnight.”

She added: “I don’t feel like it was unprofessional.”

The woman said that the local agency that handled the purchase of her dog, PuppyLove BDA, had kept her informed, telling her the dog was well and arranging the pick-up time.

“They were awesome,” she said.

PuppyLove BDA handled the purchasing from Britain, using the broker Sybur Logistix to deal with customs.

Angel Cann, the founder and owner of PuppyLove BDA, attributed the issue to “human error” but said having pets withheld by customs was new.

“The experience that I want my clients to have, this is not what I wanted for them,” Ms Cann said.

“I do think taking the dogs was a bit extreme. I will say when I spoke to customs at the airport, they tried. But even with them trying, I think an example was going to be made.”

Ms Cann added: “The only thing I can do moving forward is make sure we have everything through the day before.”

Sylvia Burgess, of Sybur Logistix, said: “I sent all the documentation, including the health certificates, the permits, the invoices for the animals. Everything was sent. But the funds came to me a half-day too late.”

Ms Burgess said that without the full payments processed by customs, the system at the airport would only show “that the paperwork has not been submitted”.

“There’s a process for clearing these pets. You have to have your paperwork submitted on time in order for it to go smoothly. For some reason, this time, it didn’t.”

She added: “If they do not have the paperwork on time, customs has taken the stance to engage the government vet to hold the pets. They’re the law and they can do that.”

She added: “That was a first, I must say. I’ve never seen that happen in almost 50 years of dealing with customs clearance. But it’s a lesson.

“We have to do things a little differently going forward.”

The Government was contacted for comment.