National Forensic Canine DNA Database To Help Combat Dogfighting

National
Forensic Canine DNA Database To Help Combat Dogfighting

[ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذه الصورة]

DNA Database To Help Prevent Dogfighting This is Cash, a pit bull from Salt Lake County,
Utah, in
need of a home.
Pit bulls bred for fighting have a new ally in the form of a DNA
database, which will help law enforcement and animal rights groups track
dogs and dog fighting rings.
via Flickr/ [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط]

DNA is already used to protect crime victims by
helping authorities hunt down and prosecute criminals. Now it will be
used to protect another kind of victim -- dogs used for fighting. A new dog
DNA database will help law enforcement and animal-rights groups
investigate dogfighting cases, using DNA evidence to establish links
among owners, breeders and dog fighting sites.
“We can tie blood spatter on pit walls and clothing, or blood trails
found outside of the pit, to a specific dog and tell his story for him,”
says Beth Wictum, director of the forensics unit of the Veterinary
Genetics Laboratory in at the University of California-Davis veterinary
school, in a press release. “We become the voice for those victims.”
The Canine Combined DNA Index System, or Canine CODIS, includes more
DNA markers than are normally tested, allowing for better comparisons.
That provides more power when calculating match probability, which is
then used in criminal proceedings. The database will be maintained at
UC-Davis, and law enforcement agencies will be able to pay a fee to have
dog DNA analyzed and matched.
Blood collected from dog fighting sites will also be checked against
the database to identify the animals, UC Davis says.The canine CODIS is similar to the human one, which law enforcement
officials use to match suspects to DNA profiles found at crime scenes.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the
Humane Society of Missouri and the Louisiana SPCA established the
database using DNA from dogs seized in investigations, along with
unidentified samples collected at dog-fighting venues.
It includes DNA from dogs seized in a [ندعوك للتسجيل في المنتدى أو التعريف بنفسك لمعاينة هذا الرابط] near St. Louis last year, the largest
in the country. More than 400 dogs were seized after an 18-month
investigation and more than two dozen people in Missouri and Illinois
were arrested.