New forensics program to investigate crime against animals

Call it "CSI: Animal Edition." But this isn't television. In this real-life drama, necropsies, assessment of skeletal remains for abuse and trauma, and crime scene analysis of hair, fibers and bloodstains are used to solve cases of cruelty to animals.

University of Florida officials announced today that they are partnering with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to form the first Veterinary Forensic Sciences Program dedicated to the teaching, research and application of forensic science in the investigation and prosecution of crimes against animals. The program will handle cases from around the country — possibly up to 200 within the first two years — and provide consultancy and training. Additional details will be presented at the North American Veterinary Conference, which opens Saturday in Orlando.

The collaboration between the university and the ASPCA started a year ago, when the two institutions organized a conference on the use of forensic science to investigate animal cruelty. Coordinators expected only a few dozen attendees, but instead were met by nearly 200 people from across the United States and nine other countries.

That unanticipated interest helped fuel the development of the new program.

"This is a newly emerging field," said forensic toxicologist Bruce Goldberger, Ph.D., director of the William R. Maples Center for Forensic Medicine at UF. "We are translating our knowledge of forensic science to a new field devoted to solving crimes against animals."

The Veterinary Forensic Sciences Program will dramatically increase the number of professionals trained in forensic investigation of animal cruelty cases — by potentially hundreds each year, Goldberger said. In so doing, it could also help uncover instances where the abusers are also targeting people, experts say.

Housed at the Maples Center, the new program is being established with an initial gift of $150,000 and a commitment of support for the next three years from the ASPCA.

Over the last few years, the number and stringency of laws relating to animal cruelty has increased. Penalties can include extended prison time, such as in the high-profile dog fighting case involving professional football player Michael Vick.

"That means the standards of investigations and of the science used in documenting what has happened to animals are much, much higher than even five years ago," said Randall Lockwood, Ph.D., ASPCA senior vice president for anti-cruelty field services.

There is no national tracking of animal cruelty cases — the new Veterinary Forensics Sciences Program will allow for better collection of such data. Each year the ASPCA investigates more than 5,000 cruelty cases and arrests or issues summonses to more than 300 people. Scenarios include simple neglect, abandonment, animal hoarding and blood sports such as dog fighting. On the basis of media accounts, the animal advocacy Web site pet-abuse.com reports 1,620 high profile cases in 2008.

Lt. Sherry Schlueter, who calls herself the "original animal cop," is credited with starting — in the early 1980s — the first animal cruelty investigation unit within a law enforcement agency. Today she is section supervisor of the Special Victims and Family Crimes section of the Broward County (Florida) Sheriff's Office. She said the new program will help protect not only animals, but also humans who might be harmed by the same assailants. She heads one of the first police units in the country in which officers are "cross-trained" to recognize and investigate links between animal abuse and violence against humans, including child abuse, domestic violence and sexual abuse.

She works to educate fellow officers and others about that link.

"My goal was always to get law enforcement to recognize animal cruelty for the crime it is," she said. "Victims are victims — and batterers are batterers — and it shouldn't matter what species, what age, what gender."

The new program at University of Florida will offer undergraduate and postgraduate courses and continuing education for veterinarians, law enforcement personnel, animal control officers and others. Courses include forensic entomology, buried-remains excavation, bloodstain pattern analysis, bite-mark analysis and animal crime scene processing. Trainings will be done in classroom settings, online and through the just-formed International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association.

One such course — to be offered next spring through the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine — will include seminars on various forensics topics, as well as a mock trial in which students will play the defendants in animal-cruelty cases. Real prosecutors and media professionals will take part to enhance the learning experience. Often, veterinarians presented with cases of animal abuse or neglect are not sure what to look for to establish cause and manner of death, or to prove that a crime was committed.

"Veterinarians are frequently asked to participate in cruelty investigations, yet we don't receive special training on that in veterinary school," said Julie Levy, D.V.M., Ph.D., director of Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida. "There is a substantial unmet need for that training to be provided to veterinarians."