An Italian sniffer dog was killed after eating sausages filled with nails that were thrown into his kennel, his trainer has said.

Bruno, a seven-year-old bloodhound, had been hailed as a hero for finding nine missing people during his career, and was once honoured by Italy’s prime minister.

Giorgia Meloni condemned the “vile, cowardly, unacceptable” killing in a post on X. “Thank you for all you have done, Bruno,” she said.

The dog’s trainer, Arcangelo Caressa, said he knew who was responsible and vowed to make them pay for their actions.

It has been suggested the killing was carried out as revenge for Bruno’s role in dismantling dog fighting rings.

“Today I died with you,” Mr Caressa said in a Facebook post announcing Bruno’s death.

He said he found the dog – who, he says, he saw as a “brother” – on Friday morning in his kennel at the Endas search and rescue training centre in Taranto, Puglia.

“You fought your whole life to save humans and now it was a human who did this to you,” he added. “You were, you are and you will continue to be my hero.”

The trainer said Italy’s police and prosecutor’s office had launched a joint investigation into the killing.

Addressing the culprits, Mr Caressa said: “I know who you are, and you will pay for it.”

He told local media had received death threats in the weeks leading up to Bruno’s death.

“It wasn’t a random gesture. They want me to step aside. But I will never give in. This is a vile attack, done for money and revenge,” he told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Italian MP and animal rights activist Michela Vittoria Brambilla has urged the police to bring those responsible to justice.

She suggested Bruno had been targeted by criminals because of his role in seizing dogs used in fighting.

A newly strengthened law, spearheaded by Brambilla, can punish anyone who kills an animal using torture by up to four years in prison and a €60,000 (£51,000) fine.

Brambilla has called for this law to be applied due to Bruno’s “long and painful death” from internal bleeding, brought on by the nail-filled sausages.

“We owe it to this noble animal,” she said in a statement.