down.

Bermuda is dealing with more stray dogs than ever before, according to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Now a huge backlog of pups waiting to go into the SPCA shelter means more dogs face the death sentence.

Stray dogs on death row Government dog warden Leonard (Shinah) Simons revealed his office had picked up 217 strays between January 1 and September 16.

The figure for the same period last year was 180 strays.

And there is already a long line of dogs at the Government kennels waiting to be transferred to the SPCA shelter on Valley Road, Paget.

Pups are moved there as soon as there is space, after they have spent four days in the kennels.

Government wardens appeal for their owners to come forward before moving them on.

Then SPCA helpers try to find would-be owners to adopt the pets.

Their shelter is already full up with nine dogs and five others on the waiting list.

And the SPCA has warned more dogs will be sent back to the wardens to be put down unless several pets are adopted soon.

SPCA spokeswoman Joanne McPhee said: "We have got a major problem and the dog wardens just seem to be inundated with stray dogs.

"They are released to us after four days and we keep them in our no-kill shelter. But sometimes we have to transfer them back to the dog warden and they are invariably put down.

"We would really like to encourage more adoptions.'' Mr. Simons added: "We are snowed under at the moment. We are trying to wade through a backlog of complaints and we are playing catch-up all the time.

"Otherwise, we could be a lot more proactive instead of ploughing through the paperwork.

"The number of strays we have picked up is phenomenal and we would add to the appeal for more owners and would-be owners to come forward.'' The SPCA can be contacted on 236-7333.