WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 16 An animal forensics program at Purdue University is teaching U.S. veterinary students how to identify abuse or other crimes against the animals they treat.
"This course spans large and small animal disciplines," said Janice Sojka, a Purdue assistant professor. To take the course, students must have had a basic veterinary pathology course and be a sophomore or junior.
"If someone is interested in shelter medicine, this would be a prerequisite, but it also will prepare practicing veterinarians to have a plan should they see a potential crime in the treatment of animals that are brought into their clinics," Sojka said. "We are teaching them how to apply science in a way that will be used by a court of law."
The final grade in the course is determined by a service-learning project that might include doing intake assessments at an animal shelter or creating a policy of what to do when animal cruelty is suspected.
"We believe this is one of the first courses of its kind being offered to veterinary students," Sojka said. "There's more being published and being done on violence in the home, and none of it was getting to veterinary students."
Copyright 2007 by UPI
