Welcome to the 2026 Animal ForensiCon. This year the conference is in Orlando, Florida and Dr. Adam Stern joins us to talk about what we can expect from this year's speakers

For more information about the Animal ForensiCon, visit https://animalforensics.vetmed.ufl.edu/training/2026-animal-forensicon/

Dr. G:

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Hi, and welcome to The

Animal Welfare Junction.

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This is your host, Dr.

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G, and our music is written

and produced by Mike Sullivan.

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We are at the Hilton DoubleTree at

the entrance of Universal Orlando

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for the 2026 Animal Forensicon.

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Let's see what they have going on.

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All right, we are at the twenty twenty-six

Animal Forensicon, and here is Dr.

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Adam Stern to tell us about it.

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So thank you for inviting the

Animal Welfare Junction again.

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And what are people going

to be seeing this weekend?

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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So this weekend, we, you know,

try to raise the bar every year.

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Uh, it's, it's great having you back, so

we can share this with all your listeners

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and maybe have them come next year.

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Yes.

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Um, so, so this year we have

a couple of different things.

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We-we're doing some photography workshops

where, we're concentrating on sort of

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outdoor, crime scene documentation.

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We're doing wildlife workshops.

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We're doing, more of a domestic

animal, workshops with, dog

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fighting and cockfighting.

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We're talking about the link.

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Some of the lectures coming up are kind

of thinking outside the box a little bit.

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So one of the things we're,

we're highlighting this

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year is follow the money.

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And so we have Florida's newest, law

enforcement agency, the Gaming Commission

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here, and they're gonna talk about

how they follow the money for gambling

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and, and that relationship to some of

the animal cases like dog fighting.

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We're gonna be talking about some

best practices for fingerprints and

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essentially what not to do, because we

always say, you know, get fingerprints,

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but now we're gonna hear what we

should do and what we should not do

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to make sure we don't destroy them,

when we try-- before we get them.

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We're gonna have some toxicology

talks, We're gonna have talks on fraud.

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So really trying to highlight

some of the other kinds of crimes

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and not belittle animal cruelty.

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We have plenty of that, but we're

trying to show some of the other

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things that forensic science can

do to help with, you know, other

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statutes that the various states have.

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Dr. G:

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Well, and the link is

really important, right?

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Just because animal cruelty is related

to interpersonal violence, and I think

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that o-one of the things that I get

from the speakers and the talks is

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the variety, because then you learn

a little bit about law, and you learn

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a bit, little bit about animals and a

little bit about the different things.

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And so y- that may be your field,

and you're learning more, but if

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it's not your field, you have the

opportunity to immerse yourself into

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what other things are out there, right?

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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Yeah, and that's one of the things

that all the speakers realize is that

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we have, we have investigators here.

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We have veterinarians.

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We have some vet techs.

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We have animal welfare advocates.

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We have attorneys here.

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And so being able to teach all

of these different groups, um, is

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really important because if only

one group knows everything, and

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then the other groups know nothing,

we're not gonna move the bar, right?

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We're gonna stay at the status quo.

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But once you start educating all these

different groups at the same time, they're

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asking questions that- You know, one of

the other groups in the room might know.

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And they're like, "You never knew that?"

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And so we're starting these

conversations of, "Okay, I knew

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that, but I didn't know that.

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You knew that, but you didn't know that."

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And now we're starting to, uh, educate

all across the board and, and making

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these cases, more seamless, right?

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And knowing how to communicate with

an attorney as a veterinarian or how

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should a veterinarian, uh, interact

with an investigator and, and knowing

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the different questions and different

answers that each group can, can

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work on is gonna be really important.

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And then, you know, we help the animals,

and then we identify because of the link,

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the, the human victims out there as well.

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So there's so many connections

that we try to highlight, um, and

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teach all in these three days.

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Dr. G:

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Well, and collaboration

is important, right?

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Like, you cannot really have a

solid case without involving a

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lot of different stakeholders.

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So I feel that these, these things also

kind of inform the different people about,

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yeah, you're important because this is

what you bring and this is what all the

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other people in the, in the team bring.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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Oh, 100%.

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You know, when I teach what is forensic

science and what is animal forensic

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science or veterinary forensic science,

um, you really have to highlight what

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the different sciences can do, right?

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There's not one science that

can answer all of the questions.

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Just think about, um, why dead, right?

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That might be a pathologist.

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How long dead might be an entomologist

saying minimum time of colonization.

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Um, pathologist might say,

"I think it's a poison."

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Toxicologist is gonna answer

that question for you.

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Um, then we find that there's a

bottle and you find the fingerprint

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on it, and so that's when a crime

scene tech and trace evidence...

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So we're all answering different questions

and then the prosecutor gets to digest all

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of that and use all of that information

when they have to go and prove their

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case ultimately in court in the end or

make a plea deal, whatever it might be.

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But having all those answers, there's

not one science that can do it all.

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Dr. G:

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Well, I love that the way that the Animal

ForensicsCon is evolving and I'm looking

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forward to what this week has to offer

and again, thank you for having us here.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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And thanks for having us on your show.