- Florida, USA -
I SALUTE THIS GREAT MAN!
You know when we watch TV police shows and we see medical experts reconstruct the crime scenes?
Well, now scientists at University of Florida are doing the same thing conducting necropsies on stray animals and hunting for signs of foul play, reports First Coast News.
Not all the animals we see dead on the streets or very close to death have been victims of careless and reckless drivers.
In many cases innocent animals have been dumped after being severely abused or tortured.
How do we know then what really happened to them?
Dr. Adam W. Stern is a forensic pathologist in the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, and his focus is to learn what really happened to these animals so that their death can be investigated by law enforcement agencies and justice can be served!
Dr. Stern has started two new programs, one is called “ A Dog Has No Name” and the other one is called “ A Cat Has No Name.”
These two programs are collaborations with law enforcement authorities and forensic specialists at the UF Maples Center for Forensic Medicine to provide a way to identify and document the deaths of unclaimed dogs and cats.
Professors, students and pathologists perform forensic autopsies on animals, and if examinations reveal a questionable death, then, the findings are submitted to the appropriate agencies with the purpose of prosecuting animal abusers and bringing justice to the animals who were harmed.
Dr. Stern said: “People who contact us might say we have a dog that’s been found dead in a park, or on the side of the road, and we think it might fit your program.”
He then explained: “We're looking for patterns. Hit by a car pattern injuries are going to be different than those if someone beat an animal up and dumped it on the side of the road, so we're going to look for patterns. I’ve seen maybe a half-dozen cases where others have actually seen people dump dogs on the side of the road. Some of them were abused. But no one really knows unless we look at them.”
Dr. Stern has already identified several cases of dogs and cats who showed evidence of animal cruelty.
How did he determine that?
This was his response: “Because the dogs had projectiles in them. These were air gun pellets, and the death was definitely attributed to these projectile injuries. We see that there could be a potential crime involved, then report it to law enforcement authorities and let them do their investigating.”
Dr. Stern then added: “It makes me feel good that I can tell their story, There doesn't have to be anything nefarious about the case, but at least we know what happened. We do name all of the animals.”
The program is run through donations, and there's never a charge to perform a forensic autopsy.
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