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WITH the increased interest in investigating incidents of suspected badger baiting, colleagues may be asked to help to provide evidence in such cases. The investigation of bite marks in animals is a fairly common presentation for clinical veterinarians. However, the attribution of a bite mark to a particular animal and the subsequent legal conclusions made by a vet investigating bite marks received by a dog from a suspected badger bite may require a forensic approach above the normal clinical approach.
The underlying principle is to have more than one source of evidence that is independent of any other source. This is the discrete independence effect.
For example, in the past, the investigation of bite mark wounds on dogs from badgers in Northern Ireland has required: a DNA swab of the site; a pathological description...