The dog of Albert Brian Rosso, who is alleged to have been murdered last October but whose body has not been found, was yesterday rescued from his master's fishing boat where it seems to have been left since the man went missing, the SPCA said.

A black Neopolitan Mastiff (not necessarily pure breed) was yesterday brought back to shore from a fishing boat at sea near the slipway in the bay of Marsaxlokk. It had probably been on the boat for around three months.

Although the dog was being fed by fishermen, the Society for the Protection and Care of Animals maintained that it was not the best environment for an animal, particularly with the recent rains and rough sea and because it was alone.

The rescue was carried out after the SPCA received reports from people in the area and managed to get permission to board the vessel of the murdered man.

"A couple of weeks ago we got a phone call from people in the area that the dog was still on the boat, which is at sea," said home manager Christel Selis.

Luckily, the fishermen were feeding it and must have been throwing food over. However, it probably had no fresh drinking water and the place was a mess, she said.

The SPCA contacted Inspector Alexander Miruzzi of the Administrative Law Enforcement unit "because, since the case is still open and the body has not yet been recovered, we felt we could not just get up and go onto the property".

The ALE yesterday sent two police officers and a dinghy, while the Civil Protection Department was on standby just in case any problems arose.

But the operation ran smoothly and the dog was soon safe on land after, presumably, three months at sea.

Ms Selis and two SPCA staff members accompanied the two police officers on the dinghy to take the dog off the boat.

"It was not in too bad a state, I have to say, thanks to the fishermen. It was not at all neglected and was friendly, so there were no problems," she said. The dog is now at the SPCA, waiting for further instructions as to what to do with it from the late Mr Rosso's brother, who had given the Civil Protection Department and the SPCA the permission to collect it.

"We will first see if he wants to take it, or if he has a family member who wants it. Otherwise, after seven days, the dog will be up for adoption, following a check-up by the vet, vaccination and neutering," Ms Selis said. Neopolitan Mastiffs, which is what it looks like, are fighting dogs, so the SPCA would have to be sure that it would not be adopted by someone who wants to use it to breed other fighting dogs, she pointed out.

Two men have been charged with Mr Rosso's murder.