engleski

Importance of veterinarian at the animal crime scene

Legal investigations of different types of crime scenes related to animal-related offences are still a low priority for our veterinary community. Even for veterinarians who deal with such cases on requests by judicial authorities, inspection control, legal and natural persons and by that have some particular obligations to ensure that all evidences are recognised and analysed. However, in recent years there has been a growing need for the involvement of veterinarians not just to advise and/or give opinion in legal cases concerning animals but also to actively participate in crime scene investigation. In most cases the veterinarian is assisting the police or other enforcing authority at crime scenes to assess evidence in situ and only occasionally veterinarian is the only official present. In the light of new legislation, forensic science techniques are becoming an increasingly important component in determining time and cause of death/injury, mechanism of death, and manner of death/injury, applied precautions measures and clarifications of biology-related circumstances. In this paper the potential role and responsibility of veterinarian at a crime scene is presented using two legal cases in two legally different situations: (1) road traffic accident involving roe deer and (2) dogs attack on the fallow deer kept on a farm. Regardless of how a veterinarian becomes involved and who is responsible for crime scene investigation, it is important to record all observations on the scene, to remain objective and to document findings in an unbiased manner.

animal crime scene ; forensic veterinary medicine

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