maggot-infested wound was given the option of a $300 fine or 30 days in prison in Magistrates' Court yesterday.

Keith W. Hill, 55, of Southampton, was also ordered to surrender any other dogs he had to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and not to have one in his care for two years.

Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis looked at photographs of the German shepherd in Hill's care and described the wounds as "very nasty.'' Crown counsel Mr. Mark Pettingill said SPCA Inspector Louis Ray went to Hill's Palm Valley Road home on April 26 and found the male dog, whose wound was "giving off an awful smell.'' A choker chain was deeply embedded in the dog's throat, and the resulting wound was infested with maggots, Mr. Pettingill told the court. A veterinarian estimated the chain must have been around the dog's neck longer than three weeks, he said.

Medical treatment for the dog cost $429, he added.

Hill said he was looking after the dog for a woman who was sick.

"I really don't see why all this should be put on me,'' he said. "This lady gave me this dog to look after because she was sick and she was going to the hospital.

"Why haven't they brought her to court?'' But Mr. Francis said he had no evidence the woman mistreated the dog, and the injuries happened while it was in Hill's care.

"You were the one who let this dog run downhill; not the lady,'' Mr. Francis said. "She gave you, for all I know, a very healthy dog.''