SPCA all ears for CSI expert

Jason Byrd. Photo / Stephen Baker

We've seen the CSI television programmes where the investigators hunt for clues to gruesome deaths while delivering witty one-liners. Now imagine it with animals as the victims.

For visiting United States animal CSI (crime scene investigation) expert Jason Byrd, this science is his reality - though it's not nearly as sexy as the way television might portray it.

"I have been expecting producers to call and propose an [Animal CSI] show," Dr Byrd told the Herald.

"As popular as forensic science is, the only way you can make it more popular is to add a cute, fuzzy animal to the mix.

"What you see on television is based on what we can do in real life - the science is there. The methodology may be slightly different because us working in a laboratory on a case is an extremely boring event, and no one would bother to watch it on television."

Dr Byrd has been visiting New Zealand to teach SPCA inspectors his cutting-edge CSI techniques, and spoke yesterday at the Companion Animal Conference in Christchurch.

As a result, New Zealand's SPCA is well on its way to having the world's first forensically trained animal inspectorate.

Dr Byrd has worked on a wide range of animal crime scenes, and says much of the science used in human crime can be equally applied in the deaths of animals.

"If I'm going to be prosecuted for an animal crime, I would want to know that the resources that were used for my case were the same that would have been used for a human case."

Studying the deaths of anything from a domestic pet through to an endangered wild species, Dr Byrd can uncover how the animal died, how much it may have suffered and how long it has been dead.

SPCA national chief Robyn Kippenberger said as the New Zealand inspectors' CSI skills and experience grew, it should become harder to mistreat animals and get away with it.