Artist Anton Cataldo was fined £75 by council officials who claimed he had harmed a tree in Brighton by nailing a poster to it.

Anton Cataldo, who specialises in painting pet portraits, decided to put up reward posters on six trees after two of his favourite dog paintings went missing.

But the only person who responded to his plea was a council official who fined him £75 for causing harm to "living trees."

The email said: "Some of these posters have been stapled to trees. You appear to have little understanding that trees are living things.

"Wounding the bark of any tree in any way can lead to attack by airborne fungal spores, which in the worst-case scenario, could lead to the loss of the tree."

The email from Brighton and Hove City Council instructed Mr Cataldo to take down the posters.

It added: "Whilst we accept that the subject matter of these posters has sentimental value to you, we simply cannot allow every person who loses property to resort to the kind of actions as taken by yourself.

"The city council will, on occasions, permit residents or charities to attach posters to its property in cases, for example, where pets go missing or to raise funds, but, as I have said, not for the purpose of trying to locate lost property."

Mr Cataldo, a Brighton resident who is also a part-time carer, painted the pictures of his parents' Labradors, Oscar and Sam, last October.

He said the paintings went missing after borrowing them to take to a job interview.

He said: "I put them on my car roof while I unlocked the door outside my studio in Brighton but then drove off with them still on the roof.

"I found the council email quite patronising. I'm not an expert but I doubt very much that a staple could cause so much damage to a tree that it would actually die."

Mr Cataldo has subsequently complained to the council who agreed to cancel the fine.

A spokesman for the council said: "This was probably a case of an officer who was a little bit overzealous."