TRENDS IN VETERINARY EXPERT OPINIONS ON ANIMALS

Abstract

This paper analyses veterinary expert opinions and determines the most common reasons for appointing veterinarians as expert witness in cases related to different animal species. The paper also summarises twenty one years of services provided by the Department of Forensic Veterinary Medicine and Administration, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn in 1995 – 2015. The analysis was based on 319 expert opinions, of which 172 concerned various animal species and is presented in this work. Criminal judicial bodies were the most common ordering party, followed by civil judicial bodies, natural persons, public administration authorities and insurance companies. To determine the trends in conflicting situations in the expert opinions issued over 21 years, two periods of opinions were distinguished: the first period covering the years 1995 – 2005 (73 expert opinions) and the second one covered 2006 – 2015 (99 expert opinions). The authors demonstrated that in the second period, companion animals (mainly dogs) were far more often the subject of expert opinions than in 1995 – 2005 and the cases predominantly referred to animal cruelty issues. The second most common group were production animals (cattle, horses and pigs) followed by wild living animals. The expert opinions concerned the animals themselves but also animal products, particularly the observance of sanitary and hygiene measures at different manufacturing stages. The diversity of cases and conflicts in which a veterinarian acts as the expert witness is also increasing. Key words: veterinary forensic medicine; expert opinions; animals; conflicts; veterinary practice TRENDI STROKOVNIH VETERINARSKIH MNENJ O ŽIVALIH Povzetek: Prispevek presoja veterinarska strokovna mnenja in določa najpogostejše razloge za imenovanje veterinarjev kot strokovnjakov v primerih, povezanih z različnimi živalskimi vrstami. V prispevku je povzetih 21 let službe Oddelka za forenzično veterinarsko medicino in administracijo na Univerzi Warmia in Mazury v Olsztynu, in sicer od 1995 do 2015. Analiza je temeljila na 319 strokovnih mnenjih, od katerih jih je 172 obravnavalo različne živalske vrste, ki so predstavljene v tej študiji. Najpogostejši naročnik so bili kriminalni pravosodni organi, nato pa so sledila civilna pravosodna telesa, fizične osebe, organi javne uprave in zavarovalnice. Za določitev trendov v konfliktnih situacijah v strokovnih mnenjih, izdanih v zadnjih 21 letih, je bila raziskava razdeljena na dve ločeni obdobji: prvo obdobje od leta 1995 do leta 2005 (73 strokovnih mnenj) in drugo obdobje, ki zajema čas od leta 2006 do leta 2015 (99 mnenj strokovnjakov). Avtorji so pokazali, da so v drugem obdobju ljubiteljske vrste živali (predvsem psi) veliko bolj pogosto predmet strokovnih mnenj kot v zgodnejšem obdobju (1995 – 2005), pri čemer so se mnenja v največ primerih nanašale na vprašanja krutega ravnanja z živalmi. Druga najpogostejša skupina so bile proizvodne živali (govedo, konji in prašiči), tem pa so sledile divje živali. Strokovna mnenja so se nanašala na same živali, pa tudi na živalske proizvode, zlasti na upoštevanje sanitarnih in higienskih ukrepov na različnih stopnjah proizvodnje. Raznolikost primerov in konfliktov, v katerih veterinar deluje kot izvedenec se je prav tako povečalo. Ključne besede: veterinarska forenzična medicina; strokovna mnenja; živali; konflikti; veterinarska praksa