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Catarina Jota Baptista<\/strong>*<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a> ▲<\/a><\/p>\n Forensic sciences have multiple applications in the medical sciences, including veterinary medicine, particularly in animal crime and welfare, and food safety inspection. However, there is no formal specialisation for veterinarians working in this field. There is a current need for formal training and recognition to provide better service to the community, and to ensure suitable basic training for general veterinary professionals working in different fields.<\/p>\n Key words:<\/strong> education; forensics; formal training; veterinarian<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/a> ▲<\/a><\/p>\n Forensic sciences, or forensics, can be defined as the application of different scientific fields to enforce laws and resolve illegal problems (Hammond, 2013). A Scopus\u00ae<\/sup> search with the keywords \u201c(forensics OR forensic sciences OR crime OR criminal OR crime scene) AND (veterinary OR veterinarian OR vet)\u201d found a total of 114 documents (of all types), of which 82 were published after 2015. This indicates that the application of forensic sciences in the medical-veterinary context is quite recent, and suggests the need for its further development. <\/a> ▲<\/a><\/p>\n Animals can be involved in crimes in three different ways: 1) as the cause \u2013 animals that cause injury or financial loss; 2) as the victim \u2013 animals that are injured, poached, illegally transported or mistreated, and 3) as crime scene material \u2013 animals that provide information about a crime scene where they were present (Cooper and Cooper, 2018).<\/p>\n Even considering the crimes where animals are the primary victims (such as animal abuse or trafficking), the lack of an adequate resolution of the crime affects not only those animals. There are several negative impacts on our society. According to Lockwood and Arkow (2016), acts of domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, and animal abuse frequently coexist and are indicators of social pathology. <\/a> ▲<\/a><\/p>\n Initially, we may tend to restrict veterinary forensics to crimes against animals, namely companion animals that have been mistreated by their owners and, therefore, limit the importance of this subject to veterinarians who have (or want to have) a career in pet practise. Food safety veterinary inspectors also have a crime scene on their hands when in the presence of animal product adulteration, i.e., an animal product that includes substances (e.g., meat, milk or hair) from another animal species besides the species in question (Ahmed et al., 2018). This can be applied to several stages of the food production line, but it is a fundamental right before it reaches the consumer, as consumers as susceptible to such fraud.<\/p>\n In recent decades, the illegal wildlife trade industry has intensified and now generates over USD 20 billion every year (Ogden et al., 2009). A significant challenge in crimes against wildlife species is the inability to identify and control the trade of body parts or available biological materials (Kriangwanich et al., 2021). Thus, the role of a veterinarian in wildlife forensic sciences is crucial in resolving such crimes and their adequate sanctioning.<\/p>\n <\/a> ▲<\/a><\/p>\n Until recently, most veterinary students received no theorical or practical training in forensics. Most did not even know how to identify signs of animal abuse. In 1999, most veterinary students had, on average, less than 76 min of training on animal abuse (Landau, 1999). However, who can properly teach these students if we do not have specialists? Veterinary pathologists, inspectors and toxicologists who often work with forensic cases should also be trained in or able to recognised the subject in order to provide adequate teaching of general forensic concepts to their students. Despite the creation of multiple post-graduation and master\u2019s degree courses in recent years (e.g., Veterinary Forensic Sciences or Wildlife Forensic Sciences by the University of Florida; Parry and Stoll, 2020), there is a need for a formally recognised specialisation that ensures a vital veterinarian contribution. In the end, a forensic veterinarian would secure justice for abused or endangered animals while providing an interface with the criminal justice system to better combat organised crime and improve public health.<\/p>\n <\/a> ▲<\/a><\/p>\n This work was supported by National Funds by the Funda\u00e7\u00e3o para a Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia, Minist\u00e9rio da Ci\u00eancia e Tecnologia (FCT \u2013 MCT) \u2013 references of the projects: 202104520.BD, UIDB\/04033\/2020 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.54499\/ UIDB\/04033\/2020 \u2013 from CITAB) and 10.54499\/UIDB\/04585\/2020 (CiiEM).<\/p>\n <\/a> 1. AHMED, Y. A., S. ALI and A. GHALLAB (2018): Hair histology as a tool for forensic identification of some domestic animal species. EXCLI J. 17, 663-670. 10.17179\/excli2018-1478. <\/a> ▲<\/a><\/p>\n Forenzi\u010dke znanosti imaju vi\u0161estruke primjene u medicinskim znanostima, uklju\u010duju\u0107i veterinarsku medicinu, tj. u zlo\u010dinima po\u010dinjenima nad \u017eivotinjama i dobrobiti \u017eivotinja, kao i kod provjere zdravstvene ispravnosti hrane. Me\u0111utim, ne postoji formalna specijalizacija za veterinare koji djeluju na ovom polju. Klju\u010dne rije\u010di:<\/strong> edukacija, forenzika, formalna obuka, veterinar<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Catarina Jota Baptista* Catarina JOTA BAPTISTA*, (Corresponding author, e-mail: catabap@hotmail.com), Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Veterin\u00e1rias, Escola de Ci\u00eancias Agr\u00e1rias e Veterin\u00e1rias<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2343,2344,2345,2346],"issuem_issue":[2342],"ppma_author":[2010],"class_list":["post-7517","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-professional-paper","tag-education","tag-forensics","tag-formal-training","tag-veterinarian","issuem_issue-veterinarska-stanica-56-1"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nCatarina JOTA BAPTISTA<\/strong>*, (Corresponding author, e-mail: catabap@hotmail.com), Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Veterin\u00e1rias, Escola de Ci\u00eancias Agr\u00e1rias e Veterin\u00e1rias (ECAV), Universidade de Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal; Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o das Tecnologias Agroambientais e Biol\u00f3gicas (CITAB\/ Inov4Agro), UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal; Instituto de Biomedicina (IBIOMED), Universidad de Le\u00f3n, Le\u00f3n, Espa\u00f1a; Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz School of Health & Science, Almada, Portugal<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/veterinarska-stanica-journal.hr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/pdf.png\")
<\/a>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.46419\/vs.56.1.4<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\n\nAbstract<\/a>Introduction<\/a>Animals and crimes<\/a>From clinicians to inspectors<\/a>The need for formal education<\/a>Acknowledgements\/Funding<\/a>References<\/a>Sa\u017eetak<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
Abstract<\/h2>\n
\nIntroduction<\/h2>\n
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\nCrimes against or involving animals require an analysis of the crime scene by someone with a basic knowledge of a number of fields, including animal anatomy, physiology, behaviour, and pathology. A general veterinarian has the necessary concepts to provide valuable perspective in such crime scenes, which may be helpful in answering some essential questions to solve the crime. However, if specialised knowledge in forensic sciences could be created, the contribution of veterinary sciences to this field could be greatly improved.<\/p>\n
\nThis paper aims to emphasise the transdisciplinary nature of forensics in the context of veterinary sciences, and to raise awareness of the need to develop veterinary forensic sciences as a speciality.<\/p>\nAnimals and crimes<\/h2>\n
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\nTherefore, the work of a forensic veterinarian implies a responsibility through the rights and welfare of animals, which also have repercussions on society as a whole.<\/p>\nFrom clinicians to inspectors<\/h2>\n
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\nHowever, the applications of forensic sciences in veterinary practice are much wider.<\/p>\nThe need for formal education<\/h2>\n
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\nAlmost fifteen years later, in 2013, most veterinary students still felt unready to deal with animal abuse cases in their daily practice (Creevy et al., 2013; Parry and Stoll, 2020).<\/p>\nAcknowledgements\/Funding<\/h2>\n
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\nReferences<\/strong> [… show]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n ▲<\/a><\/p>\n
\n2. COOPER, J. and M. COOPER (2018): What is veterinary forensic medicine and why is it important? InFocus – Improve International.
\n3. CREEVY, K. E., S. L. SHAVER and K. K. CORNELL (2013): Domestic Violence Shelter Partnerships and Veterinary Student Attitudes at North American Veterinary Schools and Colleges.J. Vet. Med. Educ. 40, 184-191. 10.3138\/jvme.0912-084.
\n4. HAMMOND , D. L. (2013): Overview of Forensic Document Examination. Encyclopedia of Forensic Sciences: Second Edition, pp. 391-394. 10.1016\/B978-0-12-382165-2.00138-0.
\n5. KRIANGWANICH, W., K. NGANVONG-PANIT, K. BUDDHACHAT, P. SIENGDEE, S. CHOMDEJ, S. PONSUKSILI and C. THITARAM (2021): Mammalian species identification using ISSR-HRM technique. Sci.Prog. 104. 10.1177\/00368504211026163.
\n6. LANDAU, R. E. (1999): A survey of teaching and implementation: the veterinarian\u2019s role in recognizing and reporting abuse. J. Am. Vet.Med. Assoc. 215, 328-331.
\n7. LOCKWOOD, R. and P. ARKOW (2016): Animal Abuse and Interpersonal Violence. Vet.Pathol. 53, 910-918. 10.1177\/0300985815626575
\n8. OGDEN, R., N. DAWNAY and R. MCEWING (2009): Wildlife DNA forensics\u2014bridging the gap between conservation genetics and law enforcement. Endanger Species Res 9, 179-195. 10.3354\/esr00144.
\n9. PARRY, N. M. A. and A. STOLL (2020): The rise of veterinary forensics. Forensic Sci. Int. 306, 110069. 10.1016\/j.forsciint.2019.110069.
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Forenzi\u010dke znanosti u veterinarskoj medicini: interdisciplinarni predmet koji treba specijalizaciju<\/h2>\n
\nCatarina JOTA BAPTISTA<\/strong>, Departamento de Ci\u00eancias Veterin\u00e1rias, Escola de Ci\u00eancias Agr\u00e1rias e Veterin\u00e1rias (ECAV), Universidade de Tr\u00e1s-os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), Vila Real, Portugal; Centro de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o das Tecnologias Agroambientais e Biol\u00f3gicas (CITAB\/Inov4Agro), UTAD, Vila Real, Portugal; Instituto de Biomedicina (IBIOMED), Universidad de Le\u00f3n, Le\u00f3n, Espa\u00f1a; Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz School of Health & Science, Almada, Portugal<\/div>\n
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\nTrenuta\u010dno postoji potreba za formalnom obukom i priznavanjem da bi se pru\u017eile bolje usluge zajednici i osigurala prikladna osnovna obuka stru\u010dnjacima veterine op\u0107enito koji rade na razli\u010ditim poljima.<\/p>\n