Animal welfare group the SPCA and dog-lovers hit out last night after claiming that Government had failed to consult with them on its plans to ban some breeds on the Island.

Chairman of the animal charity Dr. Andrew Madeiros, who is also a vet, said he knew nothing of the proposed dog ban until concerned pet owners started to contact him this week.

"I knew nothing of it and I have no details," said Dr. Madeiros.

"We have not been consulted, despite the Environment Ministry claiming that we have. We don't know what it involves or when it was enacted. We have had lots of calls from people about this who are upset. Some people have already paid for dogs to come to the Island and they are waiting for them coming in.

"And how are they going to determine what type of dog is going to be imported? People who aren't law-abiding citizens are the ones who won't fill out the proper paper work. That is going to be the difficulty in banning specific breeds."

Environment Minister Dennis Lister announced that from this coming Monday, his Ministry would no longer issue breeding licences or import permits for dogs that it deemed potentially dangerous, including Pit Bulls, Staffordshire Terriers, several of the Mastiff breeds, Australian Dingoes and Akitas, or crossbreeds of them.

The Minister said that although no fatal incident had yet occurred in Bermuda, tragic incidents had happened overseas and therefore Bermuda was taking action.

However, he claimed he had met with representatives of the Island's dog clubs and they were happy and supportive of the policy changes coming into effect.

"The Island's population density, the number of dogs in Bermuda, the presence of the cruel activity of dog fighting, the potential for crossbreeding, the complaints about dogs that I personally receive from members of the public, all combine to give me cause to direct the Department of Environmental Protection to implement new policies surrounding the importation of dogs and issuing of breeding licenses for dogs," Mr. Lister said.

"Effective Monday, July 21, 2003, the Department of Environmental Protection will no longer issue breeding licences for dogs of breeds that we deem to be potentially dangerous.

"No longer will a person be allowed to import one of these animals merely because the person just purchased it."

And the Minister said the list would be amended as necessary, and said new animals of those same breeds would not be allowed into Bermuda.

He added: "Thus, our new policies are not the end point, but a starting point from which to work towards better education of breeders, a higher standard of care for the animals, and higher degree of public safety from animals that are potentially dangerous, irrespective of the breed."

But Dr. Madeiros said there was a need for better communication among the dog community before the Government considered dog policies.

And he said the only vet that had been consulted on the matter was Government vet Dr. Jonathan Nisbett.

Bermuda Kennel Club president Gwendolyn Dean said: "One of our members of the Bermuda Kennel Club went to a meeting with the Ministry earlier this week and she told me their plan, but I agree with Dr. Madeiros because we are not in agreement with anything," she said.

"I'm just seeing this list of banned dogs today (Friday), so we couldn't have been in agreement with anything we hadn't seen."

And Margaret Every, of the Dog Training Club of Bermuda, said she was under the impression from the meeting that the ban was already in effect, but was only temporary.

"In the end people just need to be more responsible for their dogs," she said.

President of the SPCA Deborah Riley wrote a letter to Mr. Lister yesterday and copied it to The Royal Gazette, claiming the move was a quick fix and said there did not appear to be any "rationale" or "long-term thinking" to the decision.

Ms Riley said the recommendations from the Dog Committee, which met two years' ago and included Dr. Nisbett, were not to ban dogs at all.

She said Dr. Nisbett had agreed that banning specific dogs was not a good idea.