Trends in Veterinary Expert Opinions on Animals

Abstract

This paper analyses veterinary expert opinions and determines the most common reasons for appointing veterinarians as expert witness in cases related to different animal species. The paper also summarises twenty one years of services provided by the Department of Forensic Veterinary Medicine and Administration, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn in 1995 -2015. The analysis was based on 319 expert opinions, of which 172 concerned various animal species and is presented in this work. Criminal judicial bodies were the most common ordering party, followed by civil judicial bodies, natural persons, public administration authorities and insurance companies. To determine the trends in conflicting situations in the expert opinions issued over 21 years, two periods of opinions were distinguished: the first period covering the years 1995 -2005 (73 expert opinions) and the second one covered 2006 -2015 (99 expert opinions). The authors demonstrated that in the second period, companion animals (mainly dogs) were far more often the subject of expert opinions than in 1995 -2005 and the cases predominantly referred to animal cruelty issues. The second most common group were production animals (cattle, horses and pigs) followed by wild living animals. The expert opinions concerned the animals themselves but also animal products, particularly the observance of sanitary and hygiene measures at different manufacturing stages. The diversity of cases and conflicts in which a veterinarian acts as the expert witness is also increasing.

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“…After all, it is simply impossible to investigate their activities in the current conditions of warfare, and this issue should be re-addressed in the aftermath of hostilities. ) and occupies a prominent place in the system of expert research (Babinska et al, 2018). One of the objects of this class of forensic examinations is a live vertebrate (Barington & Jensen, 2013).…”

“…Bethard (2020) showed the possibility of cooperation between forensic veterinary experts and forensic medical anthropologists when solving common issues; I. Babinska et al (2018) investigated the issue of trends in the development of forensic veterinary examination of live animals; K. Barington and H.E. Jensen (2013) showed the mechanism of the formation of bruises in pigs during their transportation and the importance of forensic veterinary diagnostics for formulating a well-founded and objective forensic expert's opinion and others.…”

Problems of concluding an expert opinion based on the results of a forensic veterinary examination of a live animal and ways to solve them

“…Forensic veterinary examination as a scientific field and an applied branch is a relatively new class of forensic examination not only in Ukraine (Kliuiev, 2019), but in many foreign countries (de Siqueira et al, 2016; Rebollada-Merino et al, 2020; Smith-Blackmore & Bethard, 2020) and occupies a prominent place in the system of expert research (Babinska et al, 2018).…”