Veterinary Forensics

Animal abuse is an overlooked area of the undergraduate veterinary curriculum, and clinicians need to be more aware of the potential for animal abuse in their daily consultations, as Nienke Endenburg describes.

Nienke Endenburg

Introduction

“When animals are abused, people are at risk; when people are abused, animals are at risk.” This quote from Phil Arkow, an internationally recognized campaigner for human-animal interactions and violence prevention, is as good an introduction as any to the subject of animal abuse and what it means to society. Animal abuse can be defined as “an intentional act that causes harm to an individual” and is a worldwide problem, causing an incalculable degree of animal suffering ( 1 ). However, despite the vast amount of suffering involved, animal abuse has so far received scant attention as a research subject ( 2 ). Social media will frequently carry messages regarding real and potential animal abuse, but the actual incidence of abuse remains unclear. There are various reasons for this, including the fact that veterinarians can find it difficult to recognize animal abuse, and if they do suspect it, they hesitate to report it to the authorities in case it is not; they do not wish to falsely accuse someone. Therefore animal abuse is greatly under-reported ( 3 ), and unfortunately how to recognize and deal with it is rarely part of the curriculum in veterinary schools around the world.

Animals will often act as indicators of human health and welfare, as can be seen in the link between animal abuse, family and social violence ( 4 ) ( 5 ). There is significant evidence to demonstrate that those who mistreat and abuse animals can and do show the same behavior towards vulnerable people around them, such as children or the elderly. It is also often the case that those convicted of murder have a history of animal abuse ( 6 ). If veterinarians are able to identify animal abuse then it can be a starting point to see if there is also domestic violence or child abuse within a family.

In this article non-accidental injuries (NAI), a synonym for physical abuse ( 7 ), will be highlighted, although neglect and sexual abuse also come within the definition of animal abuse. NAI is deliberate and can take various forms, including hitting, shaking, throwing, poisoning, burning, scalding, suffocation, and asphyxiation. The clinical presentations may include injuries to the skeleton, soft tissues or organs sustained as a result of beating or repeated maltreatment (Figure 1) ( 8 ).

The veterinary mindset

Sometimes the signs of animal abuse are obvious, but they are often overlooked by veterinarians who are usually caring individuals that find it difficult in the first place to accept that people maltreat animals; veterinarians will also often not realize that separate incidents or injuries are linked to abuse. In addition animals may have no external signs of physical damage, but can have many internal injuries, fractures and hemorrhage. It is also often thought that animals that are abused are not presented to a veterinary clinic, but this is untrue; abused animals are as likely to be taken to a veterinarian as animals that are not abused ( 9 ). In most cases it is not the abuser who brings the animal to the practice, but rather someone else, e.g., the partner of the abuser or another family member. In addition, animals that are abused will very often be taken to more than one veterinary practice, and in most cases the veterinarian will be unaware that that they are not the only one who is treating that animal. Alternatively, if an animal is seen by multiple vets within a practice, the abuse may not be immediately recognized. Medical colleagues – including doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals – also face the same dilemma, and acknowledge that the biggest challenge to recognizing the problem and actually diagnosing abuse is the powerful emotional block in the mind of the professional. They must force themselves to think about abuse in the first place; only by recognizing the problem can the veterinary profession become a part of the link to break the cycle of violence (Figure 2) ( 10 ). In fact, NAI should be included in the differential diagnosis list for many cases seen in the clinic ( 8 ).  […]