nearly a year while the accused abuser has gone free while awaiting trial.

And Mrs. Susan White, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said such a paradox is not uncommon.

"It's happened a lot of times,'' Mrs. White said yesterday. "We've had animals held at the shelter for months and months as a result of cruelty cases.

"We had a horse at the shelter for a year as a result of a cruelty case,'' she said. "It's the animal that ends up suffering.'' The mixed-breed puppy now at the SPCA was allegedly victimised by her master in Hamilton last February 22. Since then, "there is a live animal...that's been incarcerated, so to speak,'' Mrs. White said.

The puppy, now more than one-year-old, "was in the care of the Government Dog Warden, and it's now in our care, and we're hoping that the case will be concluded quickly so that the dog can be placed in a permanent home.'' The dog is kept in a SPCA pen and may not be placed for adoption unless the accused offender is found guilty, she said.

But the trial has been adjourned on several occasions.

At a recent adjournment in December, when the trial had to be postponed because the accused did not attend, Police Prosecutor Sgt. Peter Giles told Magistrate the Wor. Mrs. Cheryl-Ann Mapp the facts of the case were "particularly disturbing.'' The case is now scheduled to be heard on February 9.

Miss Libby Cook of Paget, a witness who has been waiting to testify in the case, said she blames the court system for the long delay.

"I often wonder, sometimes close to tears, how that dog feels...sitting in her cage, day in, day out, waiting, trusting, hoping that some day, someone will come and take her home and give her the love she so rightfully deserves and wants so desperately to give,'' said the 22-year-old Miss Cook.

Mrs. White said the Police are not to blame, but she feels some method must be found to either get cases tried sooner or allow victims of alleged animal abuse to resume a normal life more quickly.

LOCKED AWAY -- This puppy has been locked up since it was the victim of alleged cruelty at the hands of its master last February. She cannot be put up for adoption until the case is dealt with.