likely to urge Government to get tough on criminals by taking all law-breakers to court.

Members of the Dog Committee, set up last month at the request of former Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson, said they believed all the necessary legislation was in place to crack the crisis.

But they said unless the authorities were committed to upholding the law and ensuring that criminals were punished, no amount of new initiatives would help to prevent the rot.

Vincent Madeiros, who runs the Dog 101 club, said he had heard a number of good ideas from committee members since the group was launched three weeks ago, but he said his aim was not to punish good dog owners by introducing new blanket rules.

But he said a change in attitude was needed if the problems of illegal breeding, fighting, cruelty and dog theft were to be eradicated.

"I strongly believe that the only way out of this problem is if the Government and the authorities take measures to enforce the law,'' he said.

"We have been through the legislation and it is all there -- it is great.

"The simple solution is if you break the dog laws, you go to court and you are not allowed to own one again. We must get very tough.

"It is going to take major additional funding to solve this problem. We need at least six dog wardens to enforce the law, at the very least.

"We need to get to the people who break the law and mistreat animals. We should not be preaching to the converted.

"I want to see people going to court. If you don't have a car licence, you go to court. If you don't have a dog licence, and refuse to get a licence, then you should go to court and be banned from ever owning a dog. But how many times do we see animal issues in court -- hardly ever.'' Call to get tough with dog criminals The committee, which includes members of the community, was set up on a temporary basis to meet once a week with the aim of brainstorming and then taking a report back to the Environment Minister, who is now Terry Lister.

Vet and committee member Andrew Madeiros, who is also chairman of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and chairman of the Bermuda Vets Association, said he was against any kind of ban on breeds or importation because it penalised the good as well as the bad owners.

But he said he was eager to see inspectors' posts created, whose sole responsibility was to inspect homes, backgrounds and suitability of anyone who wanted to own a dog.

He said: "The people who should not have dogs need to be flushed out and this would be one way of doing it.

"There could be a charge levied for the inspection, so it will pay for the inspectors. Or perhaps the charge for the licence can be increased.

"I am against all-out bans of anything because often the responsible owners are punished.

"But we need the laws already in place to be enforced. They are not being properly upheld and we need to find some ways of making sure they are. The legislation is great -- the enforcement isn't.'' Charles Whited, SPCA inspector, said he believed a way forward would be to ban the importation of all dogs for maybe three years.

He said: "We have thousands of dogs on the Island, hundreds without homes, why do people need to import them? "I spoke to a woman recently who said she had been trying for three months to import a retired greyhound from New York. I couldn't believe it. I asked her why.

"There are dogs here on the Island that need homes. They should be the priority.'' Leonard (Shinah) Simons, chairman of the committee and the former dog warden in Bermuda, said the weekly meetings were already proving successful and he welcomed the views of both members and the public.

He said one of the issues the group was concentrating on was the legislation and how it should be enforced, but he said as chairman he should not comment at the moment.