A dead dog was removed from the River Thames by a distressed volunteer after authorities left it floating for more than two weeks.

Paula Kelly desperately tried to get someone to remove the body from the river, near Lower Ham Road in Kingston, but was forced to take matters into her own hands when no one came forward.

The volunteer for DogLost, a website for lost and found dogs, said she approached the RSPCA, the Environment Agency and Kingston Council but no one took responsibility, despite the body being in a busy stretch of the river near a footpath.

She said: "I am absolutely disgusted that nobody is interested.

"There shouldn’t be the bodies of dead dogs floating in the Thames.

"There are a lot of people walking along that stretch of the river and a fair amount of tourist boats going up and down.

"It could easily be a stray dog or someone’s missing pet. It could be a cruelty case. It could be anything."

The 41-year-old, from Byfleet, borrowed a metal pole from a nearby builder to remove the dead dog, which she said looked like a white and brown Springer spaniel and was floating about a metre away from the bank.

She said: "It wasn’t a pleasant circumstance. It was awful, but my main thing is to get a point out there, someone needs to take responsibility.

"It has to be somebody’s responsibility and it shouldn’t be up to a member of the public."

The RSPCA and Environment Agency both said the case was beyond their remit and was one for Kingston Council.

An Environment Agency spokesman said: "Our policy is we will remove any objects from the river that pose a flood risk. That’s as far as our remit goes."

Kingston Council said they made a plan with the Environment Agency to remove the dog but by the time they arrived it had already been done by Mrs Kelly, who disposed of it herself.

The council dog warden unsuccessfully scanned the body for a microchip.

A council spokesman said: "We are sorry for any inconvenience or distress this situation may have caused the resident or any passersby."