Support The Mission

Animal crime investigators are constrained by resources and training available for investigating scenes of animal abuse. This ongoing project provides crime scene materials and training for these investigators at zero cost.

Scenes of animal cruelty may hold blood spatters that are unidentified as animal and may go undetected. This research project seeks to establish new imaging techniques for the rapid on-site identification of suspected animal blood evidence and source species.

Poaching is becoming increasingly difficult to detect from discarded animal remains, but may be identified by traces of lead contaminating the animal's wound. This research project develops techniques for identifying traces of lead in bullet or arrow wounds, and scene-ready visualization of ballistic evidence.

Outreach, training, and science dissemination forms the core of the Animal Forensics Institute. We educate all experience levels — from summer workshops for high school students interested in forensic science, to discipline experts at national meetings, to frontline practitioners receiving training in new skills, free of charge.

We will establish a laboratory dedicated to the analysis of animal crime evidence, with full priority provided to animal DNA, necropsy, pattern, and trace evidence analysis. Currently, animal DNA is waitlisted over 12 months and sees high upcharge; we will cut this down to equal the timelines of priority human cases.