allowed to be imported without a quarantine.

Fifteen rabies-free islands -- including Australia, Japan and Hawaii -- will be added to the "pet passport'' programme that allows cats and dogs to enter Britain without being quarantined for six months.

The programme began in February with 22 rabies-free European countries.

The Environment Ministry has lobbied the British Government for inclusion, and representation has been sent to the Office of International des Epizooties, an international governing body that regulates animal trade.

There has not been a case of rabies in Bermuda for more than 40 years and Bermuda meets OIE criteria for "rabies free'' status.

Until now pets shipped to the UK had to be quarantined for six-months which stressed the animal and its owner, as the example of returning Governor Lord and Lady Waddington's dog Basil, which died of cancer while behind bars.

Lord Waddington once called the quarantine "completely abhorrent'' considering Basil had to be thoroughly checked before being allowed into Bermuda.

Within days of the report of Basil's death in British tabloids, the Labour Government launched a review of the quarantine law.

Each passport certifies the pet has a microchip implant verifying its identity and that it has been vaccinated against rabies and tested by a government-approved laboratory.

The 15 islands, which will be added at the end of January, were included as part of an ongoing expansion process, Agriculture Minister Baroness Hayman said Wednesday.

Other countries will be considered for inclusion in the pet passport programme in the near future, including the continental United States, she said.

"We obviously have to do this step by step,'' the minister said. "In reforming quarantine, we shouldn't be reducing protection against rabies.'' Since implementation, more than 5,000 pets have bypassed the six-month quarantine.

The other islands or island groups to be added are: New Zealand, Singapore, Cyprus, Malta, the Falkland Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, St. Helena, Ascension Island, Barbados, and Montserrat.