44 Results Found

Veterinary forensic pathology is an evolving discipline at the intersection of veterinary medicine, forensic science, and animal welfare law. This article underscores the growing importance of this field in advancing both animal welfare and justice....

Postmortem cadaveric changes are commonly used to estimate the postmortem interval (PMI) in humans and animals. However, these modifications have been poorly investigated in animals of interest to veterinary forensic pathology. The aim of this study...

Gunshot wound morphology and gunshot residues (GSRs) evaluation have been poorly investigated in veterinary forensic pathology. The aims of the present study were to assess the gunshot wound morphology in animals and evaluate the detectability of lea...

In forensic veterinary investigations of suspicious animal deaths involving loss of body parts, it is essential to determine whether the wounds were caused by human intervention or by other animals. Detailed postmortem examination of the wounds, comb...

Pregabalin, as the active ingredient of various medications, is used in humans to treat generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), epilepsy, fibromyalgia, and neuropathic pain. In animals, pregabalin is used as an anesthetic. The aim of the present study wa...

Veterinary professional practice can be performed in many forms, including expert activity. The importance of veterinary expertise is, however, often underrated and limited to only one of its areas. Nonetheless, veterinary expert opinions have signif...

Despite the well-established link between animal abuse and interpersonal violence, animal mistreatment remains a global issue. Challenges such as inconsistent legislation, limited training of specialized pathologists, and lack of regional data persis...

The Northern Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita is an endangered species, and recently it was reintroduced in Europe by the Waldrappteam. The reintroduction program has been strongly threatened by several sudden deaths, mainly in Italy. The present study u...

Veterinary forensics is becoming more important in our society as a result of the growing demand for investigations related to crimes against animals or investigations of criminal deaths caused by animals. A veterinarian may participate as an expert...

The on-site inspection of the scene of an animal cadaver is crucial for a correct interpretation of the autopsy results, to determine the manner, method, and cause of death. This information plays a crucial role in the control of public health includ...

Animal crimes are a widespread phenomenon with serious implications for animal welfare, individual well-being and for society in general. These crimes are universal and represent a major problem in human/animal interaction. In Portugal, current law 6...

Background: The aging of fly larvae is primarily determined by their temperature-dependent growth rates, a concept widely applied in forensic entomology to estimate the minimum postmortem interval using the accumulated degree day/hour (ADD/ADH) metho...

Agonal thrombus is infrequently discussed in veterinary forensic pathology, being misdiagnosed as postmortem coagulation. The main purpose of the present study is to confirm that agonal thrombosis is an important tool in ruling out sudden death and t...

Murder-suicide, also referred to as homicide-suicide, results in multiple casualties. The victims are typically human, and cases involving the inclusion of pets, sometimes termed “murder-suicide-peticide”, have been rarely reported worldw...

In this study, bone detection was performed using the YOLO algorithm on a dataset comprising photographs of the scapula, humerus, and femur from cattle, horses, and dogs. Subsequently, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) were employed to classify bo...

Estimation of age represents a central focus in the veterinary forensic pathology field. Currently, the visual examination of the dentition and the skeletal age are the main methods to estimate the age of puppies. Nevertheless, these methods are affe...

Animal bite injuries are common in free-ranging cats in Taiwan, and most fatal animal bite events are presumed to be caused by dogs. However, speculation regarding animal abuse may occur when carcasses with prominent injuries are found by members of...

Lucilia silvarum Meigen (Diptera: Calliphoridae) is widespread throughout North America and Europe. Described in 1826, this blow fly was quickly associated with myiasis in amphibians, and to date has rarely been reported in carrion. There is limited...

When pit bull-type dogs are seized in an investigation of organized dogfighting, heavily scarred dogs are often assumed to be highly dog aggressive due to a history of fighting. These dogs may be deemed dangerous and euthanized based on scarring alon...

In this time series study, the temporal sequences of postmortem changes in brains kept at different temperatures were investigated in different areas of mouse brains. Fixation of tissues kept at different storage temperatures (4 °C, 22 °C, 37 °C) was...

During the armed conflict in Colombia, homemade improvised antipersonnel landmines were used to neutralize the adversary. Many active artifacts remain buried, causing damage to biodiversity by exploding. The extensive literature describes the effects...

A modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) extraction was validated for the extraction of seven coumarin anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) and 36 pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) residues in soil samples using liquid...

Canine bites are an important public health problem, with consequences such as physical injuries, psychological trauma, transmission of zoonoses, infections and they can even cause death. To avoid deaths caused by this type of bite, multiple factors...

In human medicine, “sudden death” has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a non-violent, unexpected death occurring less than 24 h from the onset of symptoms. The aims of this study were: (1) to estimate the proportiona...

Due to their professional abilities, veterinarians have a duty to reduce animal abuse. Therefore, it is crucial to understand their attitude and behavior on encountering animal abuse cases. We analyzed the responses from completed questionnaires (n =...

Depredation by the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) is currently thought to be a problem in some areas of Spain. However, there are few technically validated forensic tools available to determine the veracity of claims with a high degree of scient...

Strychnine is an alkaloid with strong toxic properties. Poisoning results in muscular contractions and death through asphyxiation. Intentional or accidental poisonings with strychnine occur mainly in small animals, especially dogs and occasionally ca...

Animal cruelty investigations can be hampered by not knowing when a biological sample was deposited at a crime scene, i.e., the sample’s time-since-deposition (TSD). The goal of this study was to characterize a new signature system for estimati...

Dog bite incidents represent a significant public health concern, and DNA analysis, in addition to morphological comparison, has been recognized as a useful tool for identifying the offending dog. STR typing has been established as a reliable method...

Isoniazid (INH) is an antitubercular drug that exhibits high toxicity in dogs due to the absence of N-acetyltransferase activity in this species. Consequently, it has been implicated in both accidental and intentional poisonings in dogs. The aim of t...

A series of incidents involving damage to vehicle speed sensor cables occurred in an urban area in Japan. At the request of the police, DNA analysis was conducted to identify the animal species responsible. Swab samples collected from the damaged sec...

A female dog had allegedly been alive one day before its death. The veterinary office thought about accusing the dog’s owner for animal cruelty and commissioned forensic entomological expertise for the calculation of the time of insect coloniza...

Diptera belonging to the families Calliphoridae and Sarcophagidae are known for their diversified trophic preferences and for their forensic and medical-veterinary relevance. The ecological preferences (distribution, abundance and habitat) of these t...

Limited data about the differences between the decomposition of animals with fur exist within the forensic veterinary medicine discipline. Due to the sheer number of animals used as animal models and the number of animals that exist, determining stag...

Microscope slide collections represent extremely valuable depositories of research material in a natural history, forensic, veterinary, and medical context. Unfortunately, most mounting media of these slides deteriorate over time, with the reason for...

Flesh flies (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) represent a rapid radiation belonging to the Calyptratae. With more than 3000 known species, they are extraordinarily diverse in terms of their breeding habits and are therefore of particular importance in human a...

The Postmortem Interval (PMI) is the time from the death of an animal to its discovery. From a veterinary forensic standpoint, an accurate estimation of the PMI is of particular importance, especially with the observed increase in deaths of domestic...

PIVKA-II is an aberrant form of vitamin K that has been demonstrated to be increased in human coagulation disorders and in some neoplastic diseases. In veterinary medicine, PIVKA-II levels have been demonstrated to be useful for distinguishing antico...

Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) is a very sensitive method to determine small amounts of DNA or RNA in experimental, environmental, veterinary, forensic and clinical samples. Despite efforts from the qPCR community to address qPCR varia...

The overdose mortality landscape has shifted from predominantly opioid exposures to a polysubstance epidemic increasingly driven by illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogs combined with other centrally active agents. Among the co-intoxicants, veterinar...

Calliphoridae, or blow flies, are of much ecological and practical importance given their roles in decompositional ecology, medical and veterinary myiasis, and forensic entomology. As ephemeral and rapidly developing species, adults are frequently no...

As the opioid crisis continues to wreak havoc on a global scale, it is increasingly critical to develop methodologies to detect the most dangerous drugs such as fentanyl and its derivatives, which have orders of magnitude higher potency than morphine...

The present study investigates the developmental process of Chrysomya rufifacies (Macquart) pupae and their dependency on soil composition, moisture levels, and temperature changes. This research holds implications for forensic and veterinary applica...

Xylazine (XYL), an FDA-approved veterinary tranquilizer, is being abused both as an opioid adulterant in a street-drug known as “Tranq-dope” and as a date rape drug. Given its now nearly ubiquitous use with fentanyl and fentanyl derivativ...