girls who discovered what they believe to be a horrible act of wanton cruelty.

As the four girls were taking an afternoon dip off a neighbour's St. David's dock on Friday, they discovered to their horror the rear legs of a dead dog floating above the water, its neck tied to a concrete block on the sea floor.

"As we were swimming my uncle told us he had seen a dead dog. Me and my friends went to look and we found it floating with its bottom and two hind legs sticking out. The rest was underwater,'' said 12-year-old St. David's resident Naomi Little.

"We saw something white was tied to it so we got some sticks and scooped it out. We then saw a rope was tied to its neck and attached to a brick.'' Noami said she believed the animal had drifted in from further away because they had not seen it the day before.

"Most of the hair was gone and its belly was green and bulging. Its eyes were bulging out of its head. It was gross,'' she said.

The girls called the SPCA at the weekend but by the time an inspector came out, the owner of the dock had taken the body and dumped it at sea.

With the evidence gone, it was difficult to discover what had happened to the animal, he told them.

The SPCA could not be contacted for comment last night.