condemned to death unless they are found new owners.

A group of pups and older dogs will have to be put down unless an animal charity can find new homes -- because of a long list of stray dogs waiting to fill the kennels.

Joanne McPhee, President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, appealed to animal lovers to find homes for the dogs because of the backlog at the shelter on Valley Road, Paget.

She said: "We are totally inundated with dogs at the moment and the dog warden has several pups he wants to forward to us for adoption.

"It's his job to take in strays and hand them over to us and we run a no-kill shelter.

"But if we don't find room for them soon, then unfortunately they will be put to sleep. Now we want to make an appeal for the public to adopt them. At the moment, we have eight dogs and six puppies in the kennels.

"We also have five dogs who are due back into the shelter as people have had to return them because of animal restrictions at their accommodation.

"We know there are at least three strays waiting to come in and sooner or later, we will have to make room for them.'' She said would-be owners would be asked to fill out a short questionnaire.

First-time adopters will also be visited at home to make sure any dogs brought in would have enough shade and room to exercise.

Anyone who can help is asked to call the shelter on 236-7333.