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A homeless man who was left in tears when animal rights activists confiscated his puppy has been reunited with his beloved pet.

Cause Animale Nord hit the headlines last month when they seized the dog "for its own good" from the homeless Roma man near Châtelet in central Paris in front of shocked onlookers.

As the video below shows, the man was incredibly upset when he was targeted by the activists.

Read more: Homeless man left in tears after animal rights activists take his dog off him in heartbreaking footage

But despite pressure from the public and a petition to return the pup, Cause Animale Nord stood by their actions for more than a week.

They said on Facebook: "“We intervened because it was an urgent situation for the animal,” it said in a web post.

“The puppy was stunned, had dilated pupils and was staggering around," the group added.

"We took [the dog] away from a Roma who was using it for begging. The police don't do anything, we act."

But the decision of the group to subsequently put the pup up for adoption for around £130 was criticised.

The incident was caught on camera and shared to Facebook by a witness. It has been viewed more than 1.7 million times.

The man who filmed the footage of the puppynap, Nghi Le Duc, said the activists acted "violently" and "without pity".

"I was shocked when I saw this scene in the streets of Paris," he said.

A petition on Change.org called for an investigation into Cause Animale Nord and attained nearly 240,000 signatures.

The petition added: "Nowhere [in the group's rules] is it stated that they have the right to remove without notice any animal or that is what they did by attacking a homeless violently to take his pet [a puppy]."

A police enquiry brought one man in for questioning on September 25., but he was released after promising to return the dog.

A police source told RTL radio : “The president of Cause Animale Nord, who admitted the theft of the animal in custody on Thursday afternoon, had placed the puppy in a foster family in Wattignies [in the Nord department].”

“However, he challenged all violence, saying he acted for the good of the animal after a very insistent woman alerted him to the problem.”