terriers.

Local veterinarian Maureen Ware said the trade highlighted a failure to enforce legislation.

And this increased friction between animal owners and other Bermudians, she said.

Dr. Ware, from Hannover Veterinary Hospital in Hamilton, said the illegal trade was widespread in Middletown, Warwick and Somerset.

She spoke out following last week's torching to death of a Pembroke pit bull.

The incident demonstrated the amount of wilful animal cruelty in Bermuda, she said. In a letter to The Royal Gazette , she voiced horror at the "abusive and distorted mentality'' behind the torching.

"The long string of cruelty cases we have been involved in assessing has left us in despair over Bermuda's social ills, which are of course at the root of this sort of gruesome and depraved behaviour.'' She criticised a soft approach to those guilty of animal cruelty: "We have hardly recovered from the abiding horrors of the last cruelty case, when the perpetrator was given a conditional discharge for locking rabbits and pigeons in cages and starving them to death.

Dog laws "The Magistrate never asked the defendant why he could not pick vegetation for the rabbits, or set the birds free to look after themselves. Instead he accepted the excuse that this lazy lout had no money to care for them.'' Dr. Ware said Government had not shown the will to enforce existing legislation or press for much-needed laws.

"Much of the friction between the animal-owning and non-animal-owning population on the Island is...caused by failure to enforce existing legislation with respect to animal ownership and care.'' Dr. Ware said the laws on owning and breeding a bitch were clear. But the large number of unlicensed breeding bitches -- and retroactively issued licenses to irresponsible owners -- made a joke of the legislation.

"As a second example, we have a law which states that it is an offence to obtain a dog from an unlicensed source.

"To my knowledge there has never been a single case of someone being charged with obtaining either a puppy or an adult dog from an unlicensed source.''