To People Who Are Abusing Animals: Your Days Are Numbered.
–Words by Anna Cooke. Photography by Laura Allen Studios.
The University of Florida and the ASPCA have established a master's program in veterinary forensic sciences at the school. It is the only university in the United States offering it. The program is part of a $2 million initiative by the ASPCA to improve education for veterinarians so that they can better help law enforcement investigators solve crimes involving animals, from dog fighting to hoarding.
INVESTIGATING A CRIME AGAINST AN ANIMAL, whether it’s a dog, cat or Bald Eagle, should be no less important than investigating a crime against humans. There is one major difference, Dr. Jason H. Byrd pointed out to us when we met with him this past July at the University of Florida. In a crime against a human where death has occurred, he said that it is not always clear who the victim is. However, in a crime that involves the abuse and/or subsequent death of an ani- mal, “The animal is always the victim,” said Dr. Byrd. As a Board Certified Forensic
Entomologist for 23 years, Dr. Byrd has witnessed the breadth of abuse and pain humans are capable of inflicting on other humans. Still, the pain humans inflict upon the voiceless is often the most disturbing to him, because it’s limited only by the human imagination. He has seen a lot of death and
devastation throughout a 23-year career. In 2010, after the earthquake in Haiti that killed an estimated 250,000, Dr. Byrd traveled there to assist in the effort to identify the bodies of Americans, and those members of organizations such as the United Nations. As an administrative officer for the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he more recently commanded the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) during the mass shooting at Orlando’s Pulse Nightclub. They were deployed at 4am and arrived at Orlando’s Baird Center by 9:30am. DMORT provides victim identifica-
tion and mortuary services. The team is composed of funeral directors, medical examiners, coroners, pathologists, forensic anthropologists, medical records technicians and transcribers, finger print
34 THE NEW BARKER
Photos, counter clockwise starting with top photo: The two ASPCA mobile Animal Crime Scene Investigation units at the University of Florida. The Subaru on the right is provided by Subaru of America. Dr. Jason H. Byrd in a lab at the University of Florida. Dr. Byrd has consulted for many years on the CSI television shows, all of their spinoffs as well as Bones and Rosewood. This autographed photo from the cast thanks him for his work on 337 episodes of the show.
specialists, forensic odontologists, dental assistants, x-ray technicians, mental health specialists, computer professionals and investigative personnel. Dr. Byrd is an associate professor
within the University of Florida Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine. He is also the associate director of the William R.
Maples Center for Forensic Medicine and serves as the director of education for the ASPCA Veterinary Forensic Sciences Program at the University of Florida. (Continued on following page)
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