We are in person at the 2024 Animal Forensic Conference in Gainesville, Florida! Dr. G will be interviewing several of the speakers to give our audience a bit of the knowledge gained through the presentations. We will be releasing each interview individually to allow our listeners to find topics of interest.
This episode is our introduction to the series, and joining us is Dr. Adam Stern. Learn about the purpose of the conference and what to expect from the next set of episodes. These talks are applicable to all individuals involved in animal cruelty and investigations, including wildlife crimes.
We would also like to invite our listeners involved in animal cruelty investigations to visit and join the International Society for Animal Forensic Sciences https://isafs.org/
Mentioned in this episode:
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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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:For the next three days I am actually
recording in person for the first time
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:doing an in person recording podcast and
I am excited to be at the:
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:of Florida Animal Forensic Conference.
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:So here to talk to me about
this conference is Dr.
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:Adam Stern.
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:Welcome back to the junction.
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:Adam Stern: Thanks for having me back.
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:I feel like I was just here like a
couple of months ago, so this is fun.
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:DrG: I know.
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:Right.
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:And that's where my invite came to.
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:So that was actually kind of cool.
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:So this is really exciting being
here, being around all these people.
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:What can our listeners expect to hear
from the interviews with the speakers?
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:Adam Stern: So the conference itself,
it's, it's designed to educate everyone.
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:So educating investigators, educating
the veterinarian, which has a huge
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:component to these investigations.
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:And then even the, the attorney,
uh, the prosecutors and honestly a
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:defense attorney too, because they
can use this information to do well
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:for their clients as well, you know?
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:Um, so.
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:When we developed this conference,
the whole point was to have like
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:short term goals and long term goals.
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:And so like short term goals for me is,
you know, they, they learn something
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:new and they can apply it tomorrow.
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:And every time I have a conference
or a workshop and guarantee you the
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:same thing here is somebody is going
to get a case tomorrow or next week
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:and be like, I just learned this at
your conference and I applied it.
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:Super cool.
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:So that's one thing.
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:I really like that because it's all about
education and learning something new.
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:And then the long term, and you'll see
that some of these speakers who you're
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:going to speak with over the next few
days, they're going to tell you it's
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:sort of teamwork and to develop a plan
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:before you need it.
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:And so you're going to hear about,
you know, footprints and tire tracks
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:and, uh, animal behavior stuff that
your agency might not have access to.
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:And it's a good thing
to, to plan for that.
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:DrG: Yeah.
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:I think that knowing about what's
available even helps us figure out what
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:resources are out there and maybe we
think, Oh, that's not feasible for me.
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:But then you see it, you hear
about it and it's like, Oh, maybe
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:that is feasible for me, right?
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:Adam Stern: Yeah.
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:No, I.
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:Obviously, everything comes
down to funding, right?
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:Uh, but I think you'll find in the Animal
Forensic Investigation, uh, group that
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:there's actually a lot of resources.
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:There's people out there who, um,
actually do provide some of these
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:services at low cost, or sometimes
they even donate their time.
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:Uh, you'll, you'll be able to talk to
people on the phone, share some images.
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:So maybe they're not doing the case,
but they're gonna give you a call.
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:kind of ways, bounce ideas
off of the person to say,
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:Hey, did you think about this?
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:Or did you think about that?
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:So I think there's, there's
a lot of things to deal with.
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:Um, and I guess I'm old now, but I would
say, you know, pull out your Rolodex
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:and look through the numbers that
you have the network people that you
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:meet at this conference, shoot 'em an
email, call him on the phone and say,
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:Hey, I saw you talk or we met there.
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:And I need help.
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:DrG: Yeah, I think that that's one
of the most valuable things about
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:these types of conferences is just
the connections that you make.
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:Because, you know, myself as a
veterinarian well, I'm limited into
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:the things that I can do, but then
I come here and I meet somebody that
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:is an expert in photography that can
teach me or help me in the future or,
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:you know, even with wildlife stuff.
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:I don't really deal with wildlife but
then if I have a wildlife case then I
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:have a contact that I can connect with.
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:call and say, hey, can yo this case?
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:Adam Stern: And even if yo case,
you call them and t not really
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:the person, but I know who is.
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:So even if you just get t They can
totally get you to who, who can help you.
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:DrG: So what are the topics
that, that are going to be
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:discussed during these three days?
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:Adam Stern: So I'm not going to
remember them all because there's a lot.
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:Um, but we're going to talk about
best practices for just a general
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:animal cruelty investigation.
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:Uh, the first day is going to have more
of the sort of field relevant stuff.
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:So forensic entomology.
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:You know, we collect it off the
body, but also at the scene.
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:And it's even more important
to get the scene information.
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:Uh, we're going to have
forensic photography.
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:You mentioned that already.
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:Uh, and then a little bit on DNA
analysis and, and those sorts of things.
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:The, the second day is going to
be more, uh, small animal focus.
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:And then there's also going to be a
bunch of law stuff in there as well.
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:So, uh, Information about search warrants.
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:Um, and then preparing to testify in
court is going to be another thing.
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:So we have a couple of
attorneys doing that.
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:And then for the small animal stuff,
it's, you know, the basic, uh, forensic
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:examination of the live animal.
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:The forensic autopsy.
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:And then I'm going to be doing,
uh, a toxicology session.
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:And then we have a, a canine
aggressive behavior section.
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:The last A is a little bit more of a mix.
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:It's going to be more of
our large animal focus.
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:So, uh, equine dental diseases, which
are very important for horses and one
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:of the reasons why they might look at
a sort of starved state where they're
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:all emaciated and just skin and bones.
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:Um, so we're going to be talking that.
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:We have some marine mammal.
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:Uh, forensic scientist who is
going to be talking about her role,
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:um, in the marine mammal world.
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:And then we're going to deal with some
wildlife issues, uh, venomous reptiles,
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:sort of what to do when you think you
might encounter one, uh, because that's a
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:dangerous situation for any investigator.
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:So kind of just the nuts and bolts
of how to approach that situation.
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:Um, we're also going to do wildlife
trade, uh, like the illegal aspects of it.
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:And then hunter accidents.
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:So someone is out maybe hunting
legally, but there's a firearm
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:issue and someone gets hurt.
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:So we have an expert who's
going to talk about that.
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:So sort of just looking at the animal,
but really in a different way, they're
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:not the cause, you know, they're not
the victim or anything, but their
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:event, the hunting is involved here.
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:DrG: Well, I really like the progression
of the talks just because it feels like
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:here's the basics and then here's a
little more advanced and then here's how
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:you kind of like put it all together.
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:So again, I'm looking forward to the
next three days to what I'm going
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:to learn, what everybody else is
going to learn and all the different
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:connections that I'm going to make.
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:Adam Stern: Yeah.
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:So no, it's, it's, it's a lot of fun.
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:And I think, you know, we started
with the investigation on purpose
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:because that's what happens first.
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:You know, you don't just,
oh, here's the animal, right?
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:You, there's a scene.
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:We have to identify it, we have
to document it, and then we can do
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:some of the downstream analysis.
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:So, that's kind of why we did it that way.
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:And, uh, hopefully everybody enjoys it.
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:DrG: Absolutely.
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:Well, I know that I'm looking forward
to it, so thank you very much for
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:giving us your time, and we'll see
what comes about in the next few days.
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:Adam Stern: Alright, well
thanks, and I hope you enjoy.