Some challenges in forensic veterinary pathology: a review.

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Pathology
• Forensic Science

Background:

• Forensic veterinary pathology is an emerging field with significant challenges.
• Key issues include aging skin wounds/bruises, diagnosing drowning, and estimating post-mortem interval.
• Current findings often lack validation, and extrapolation from animal studies to casework poses reliability concerns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To highlight the developmental stage and challenges in forensic veterinary pathology.
• To discuss the limitations of using animal experimentation for casework validation.
• To identify areas requiring further research, such as drowning diagnosis and post-mortem interval estimation.

Main Methods:

• Review of current challenges and limitations in forensic veterinary pathology.
• Analysis of the impact of multispecies data and experimental studies on casework reliability.
• Exploration of emerging diagnostic tools like post-mortem imaging.

Main Results:

• The reliability of forensic veterinary opinions is potentially compromised by interspecies extrapolation and the nature of experimental data.
• Diagnosis of drowning remains problematic based on post-mortem findings.
• Estimation of the post-mortem interval is an active area of research.

Conclusions:

• Forensic veterinary pathology requires more validated casework data for accurate forensic opinions.
• Further research is needed to refine diagnostic methods and time since death estimations.
• Post-mortem diagnostic imaging presents a promising avenue for future studies.