ANIMAL MUTILATION AS A SUBJECT OF FORENSIC VETERINARY EXPERTISE

Abstract

The work shows the issues of animal mutilation as a subject of forensic and veterinary expertise. It is established that the main signs of the animal mutilation are: sustained loss of health as a result of bodily injury or its aftermath, congenital disabilities, disease, accidents; total loss of any organ or a part of the animal’s body; partial loss of any organ or a part of the animals body; total loss of organ functions or separate parts of the body (afunction); partial loss of organ functions or separate parts of the animals body (hypofunction); permanent loss or significant physiological limitation of life activity, inherent in the species on an equal footing with other animals of the same species due to trauma; distortion of body parts as a result of deformation or physical absence; limitation of the animals ability to maintain its basic living functions.

The developed classification of animal deformity is based on the fact that it should be classified according to its manifestation at the organ and functional levels; by time of acquiring: congenital malformations and acquired disabilities due to bodily injury; disease, accident; by the result of the manifestation: fatal and non-fatal; by sustainability of manifestation: stable (traumatic amputation, traumatic enucleation, traumatic extirpation, ankylosis of the joint(s), crushing (smashing)of organs, dismemberment(separation) of body parts, stable deformation of body parts) and non-stable (paresis, paralysis, contracture, etc.); by mechanism of infliction: technological (during holding and exploitation), as a result of bodily injury, technogenic ( as a result of the action of technical means on the animal (transport); by the type of factor that caused the injury: as a result of physical factors (injury caused by mechanical, thermal, electrical factors, radiation energy, barotrauma), as a result of chemical factors causing poisoning and as a result of biological factors (poisonous animals and plants, microorganisms); due to the extensive nature of the injury: with isolated, multiple, related and combined injuries; with the degree of restoration of functions of the injured organ or area of the body: with partial recovery of the function of the damaged organ or part of the body and without complete or partial recovery of the function of the damaged organ or part of the body.

 It is confirmed that the degree of disability should be taken to mean the magnitude of the difference from the animal’s standard of living. It is suggested to classify three levels of disability of an animal: moderately expressed (III level), expressed (II level), significantly expressed (I level). The anatomical defects of the animal that should be attributed to each stage are identified.

It is proved, the definition of  “mutilation of animals” as a subject of forensic veterinary expertise is formulated, signs of mutilation are identified, causes of occurrence are outlined and its classification is developed and justified, as well as the anatomical defects of the animal were determined, depending on the degree of limitation of their life activity will have a positive impact on the efficiency of the forensic and veterinary expertise for cruelty to animals, providing a substantiated and objective expert opinion in a categorical form.