for the purpose of using them as fighting dogs. These illegal fights do take place here...'' The information that Pitbulls are being bred for backyard fights comes in the wake of a savage attack on concert pianist Carol Sue Reddington by a different breed of dog, three Rhodesian Ridgebacks. The attack on Dr. Reddington is not the only one in recent months.

Now the new Environment Minister, Harry Soares, has expressed his concern at any attacks by dogs and has vowed to review the dangerous dogs law. Mr. Soares is concerned about the safety of people and other animals and says there have been instances where people might have lost their lives.

The nuisance of pigeons, chickens and ducks which we have previously written about pales in the face of savage dog attacks. The fact is that the public was supposedly assured of its safety from dog attacks by laws controlling the breeding of dogs and by the limits placed on the number of dogs a household could own. Now it appears that we have illegal breeding and some of that may be specifically for illegal dog fights.

For a long time there have been reports of organised dog fights and of people congregating to bet on these fights. However there has been little proof that these fights actually take place. If they do, it is difficult to believe that uninvolved neighbours are not aware of them and if they are that they do not report them.

Like so many complex laws in Bermuda, the laws as they apply to dogs, dog breeding and dog ownership seem to go unenforced except when there is a thoroughly nasty incident and the Police are called in. The attention paid to the dog laws seems to us to be akin to that paid to noise laws.

Part of the problem in Bermuda is once again the size of the Island and the fact that we all live in a highly developed and very urban society. Vicious dogs are generally not on some isolated farm but in the house next door. That is why you get such things as a Pitbull leaping into a Knapton Hill yard and savaging a cat. Then too you get the horrible attack on an eight year-old girl or the man who needed 360 stitches after being mauled by two dogs.

Answers are difficult to come by, because restrictions are hard to enforce.

However the laws were designed to contain the number of potentially dangerous breeds of dog yet it seems to us that there are now more potentially dangerous about than ever. Yet the way a dog behaves very much depends on the way that dog is treated by its owner. We all know of Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Pitbulls, Alsatians, Rottweilers and others which are not vicious and make ideal pets for their owners who train them and handle them well.

It would be a great shame if these people had to be deprived of their favourite breed simply because the only way for Bermuda to get rid of vicious dogs is to ban the breeds considered to be dangerous.