MINEHEAD businessman Paul James has criticised council staff for suggesting a stray puppy should be released back where it was found in the hope it would make its way home.

Mr James' wife Sharon and son Joseph found the young Staffordshire bull terrier in the Park Street area of Minehead on Monday morning.

After a quick search to see if the owner was in the immediate vicinity, they took the puppy to the police station where they were told that, following a change in the law, responsibility for stray dogs now lay with West Somerset Council, the district authority.

"They went down to the council's customer centre in the town where the staff tried to contact the dog warden," Mr James, a photographer, told the Free Press.

"But they couldn't get any answer at that time and my wife was then told that the warden wouldn't be in the area for three days.

"In the end, the staff said my wife could either take the dog home or let it go where she had found it and hope it would find its way home.

"Although it seemed very friendly, she was a bit reluctant to take it home because our youngest daughter is only four.

"However, she didn't want to just let it go where it could have got onto the road and possibly caused an accident."

Mr James said his wife was about to head off to one of the local vets to see if they could help when she decided to go into a nearby pet shop.

"Luckily, the staff in there recognised the puppy and knew where the owner lived and my wife was able to take it back.

"But it's unbelievable that anyone could suggest that such a young dog could be let loose in the hope that it might find its own way home.

"It obviously wouldn't have had much road sense and who knows what would have happened."

Mr James said it emerged that the puppy had gone missing after slipping its lead while out for a walk that morning.

"The owners were very worried and had been looking for it all day.

"They were very relieved to get it back.

"It actually had a beautiful temperament and was a lovely dog."

District council spokesman Stacey Beaumont confirmed that staff at the centre had advised Mrs James to release the dog where she had found it but said they had no option but to give that advice.

She said that, by law, anyone finding and accepting responsibility for a lost dog was responsible for it until a suitably qualified animal welfare worker could collect it.

She said that in this case the finder of the dog had contacted the council from the police station.

"We immediately contacted the dog warden," said Ms Beaumont.

"On phoning to confirm the arrival time, the warden was told that they had left the premises.

"The finder then went to the customer centre and was advised that the dog warden would be contacted again.

"However, the finder was unable to wait and could not take the dog to the local kennels used by the council in office opening hours.

"As the finder is responsible for the dog until suitable help arrives, like many other councils without facilities, we can only reluctantly, and as a last resort, advise people to release it where it was found in the hope that it will make its way home."

Ms Beaumont said that the Government did not, when changing the law, give funding to local authorities for facilities and extra staffing to look after lost dogs.

"Whilst our customer advisor was asking for more details to contact the warden, the dog was recognised by a local person and fortunately reunited with its owner shortly afterwards without the need of the dog warden.

"The warden will collect dogs from anywhere in the district in under two hours under normal circumstances and the service operates from 9am to 5pm seven days a week, so there is no possibility that there would be a three day wait."