National Taiwan University (NTU) veterinary medicine professor Liu Chen-hsuan (劉振軒) and his student Huang Wei-hsiang (黃威翔) have over the past few years helped lay a foundation for veterinary forensic science in Taiwan, where the field has not yet developed as a profession.
“Veterinary forensic medicine uses veterinary medicine to solve legal problems,” Liu said. “The most important task is the necropsy. The body is like a book — it is a record of the cause of death and the truth. Veterinary forensics reads between the lines to search for traces of crime and recover the truth.”
Liu previously served as chairman of the university’s School of Veterinary Medicine and superintendent of the NTU Veterinary Hospital.
Photo: Huang Chieh, Taipei Times
When he was young, he was interested in the way forensic doctors could obtain evidence and determine the cause of death from a body that could not communicate itself, Liu said.
Last year, a large number of stray dogs died in quick succession, he said.
“There were local rumors that someone was poisoning dogs,” Liu said. “But necropsy reports confirmed that the stray dogs had all been infected by a canine distemper virus because they had not been vaccinated.”
A cat owner and animal lover, Huang said he has always enjoyed mystery novels and digging for the truth.
When Huang entered the master’s program in 2011, he said that Liu told him: “Let us develop veterinary forensic medicine.”
Huang has presented his research at the annual Veterinary Forensic Sciences Conference hosted by the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association in Florida for four consecutive years, making Taiwan the first Asian nation to participate in the conference.
“The field of veterinary forensic medicine first originated because animal traces appeared at crime scenes and the investigators required the expertise of veterinarians,” Huang said.
Mysterious deaths of wild animals, illegal hunting, the smuggling of animal products and a rise in awareness about animal protection, as well as cases of animal torture have all led to an increased demand for the profession, Huang added.
Liu and Huang said that with the support of others, such as the Taipei Animal Protection Office, they have been able to gradually establish the field of veterinary forensic science at NTU.
They said they have built experience through requests from criminal cases and given speeches all across the country, planting seeds for veterinary forensic medicine to develop in different regions.
Due to their efforts, the Kaohsiung Animal Protection Office established a veterinary forensic medicine team early this year, they said.
Liu’s team consists only of himself, Huang and two master’s students.
Due to the shortage of hands, the team is only accepting requests from local animal protection offices at the moment, they said.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
MESSAGE: The ministry said China and the Philippines are escalating regional tensions, and Taiwan should be included in dialogue mechanisms on an equal footing Taiwan has rejected renewed sovereignty claims over the South China Sea by the Philippines and China by reaffirming its sovereignty and rights under international law over the disputed area. “The Republic of China [ROC] enjoys all rights to island groups and their surrounding waters in the South China Sea in accordance with international law and maritime laws,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a statement yesterday. Other countries’ attempts to claim sovereignty over the South China Sea do not change the fact that the ROC holds sovereignty over the region, the ministry said. The MOFA statement came after
RSS