A GROUP of animal lovers has slammed an Enfield security firm for putting down large numbers of guard dogs after it went into liquidation.

Up to two dozen dogs are believed to have been put to sleep by the Ministry Protection Services last week, though the exact number is unknown.

The firm, which "prides itself on having the biggest dog section the private sector can provide", did not do anything illegal, but several dog owners have voiced anger that more of the animals were not rehoused.

Many posted critical messages on a Facebook discussion site, which was set up following the incident.

Sally Nicholson-Fisher, 49, from Brighton Road, first notified the Enfield Independent about the incident. She said: "People say the firm did try to rehome the dogs, but they were just too vicious, but I would dispute that.

"I tried hard to intervene and take the dogs off their hands, but didn't have any luck. It all happened very quickly and I don't believe they tried very hard at all.

"I feel appalled by it. What really irks me is that these dogs were bred for security reasons, made to be vicious and then disposed of when they were no longer useful."

Writing on the Facebook site, James Henry Eades called for the law to be changed: "I am so upset and angry at the injustice of training dogs to be aggressive and then having them killed.

"Anyone manipulating dogs to be aggressive has a moral responsibility to these dogs for life.

"Apparently there is no legal responsibility to keep these dogs alive, but in situations such as these - eg "security" dogs - the law needs to be changed."

Ministry Protection Services could not be contacted, but a friend of the owner, who works in the animal industry, defended the decision to put the dogs down.

He said: "Hundreds of dogs are put down all the time by the police, the prison service, the Army. It is often unavoidable.

"This poor guy hated having to do what he did. It was not done on a whim. He tried extremely hard to rehouse the dogs, and all the dogs that could be rehoused were rehoused.

"The fact is, some dogs are too aggressive to be put in a new home and the safest thing to do is put them down.

"All these do-gooders on Facebook need a reality check."

Dog welfare charity Dogs Trust declined to comment on this specific incident as it did not know the full details, but confirmed that "no healthy dog should ever be put to sleep".

A spokeswoman said: "Should any company that utilises working dogs go into liquidation, we would advise them to immediately contact rehoming charities or breed rescue associations before taking the drastic step of putting them to sleep.

"Retired working dogs can make great pets and we firmly believe that no healthy dog should ever be put to sleep."