User:Lilymarilyn/sandbox

Prosecution is expanding. That is in large part because more veterinarians are becoming involved in crime scene investigation (CSI), and the supporting science is improving. More animal law courses are being offered in the U.S., too. “The trained veterinary forensic science team has helped me win all my important animal cases,” says Michelle Welch, a senior assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In January 2015 Welch was chosen to lead a state Animal Law Unit, the first to be organized by a state attorney general. Over 15 years Welch has worked on more than 100 cases of animal cruelty and has become skilled at using field experts to seek justice. In a recent cockfighting case, for example, she relied on expert testimony to inform a judge that roosters feel pain from injuries sustained when they have been stabbed by a gaff, a metal spur affixed to fighting birds’ feet. The court placed great weight on the expert testimony and ruled for significant jail time.