Hello Furiends,
It’s been a while since our purrsonal assistant updated our blog. She has been overly involved in research for this new book series, Meowntain Mysteries. The good news is that book one is finished and we’re nearing the end of book two. But since Alberto and I are key characters in these books we have a vested interest in them!

We’ve been learning a lot of cool stuff about crime solving animals. Did you know that cat hairs can be extremely useful in crime solving? No matter how fastidious a human perpetrator is about cleaning a crime scene, it’s unlikely that they will get rid of every single cat hair on their clothing. Just ask The Human, she is constantly whipping a roller out of her purse and attempting to banish every cat hair on her clothing, and failing miserably. (Note to The Human, don’t consider a life of crime!)

Now we have pages and pages about animal crime solving which would probably bore you so we thought we’d share an article from A & E True Crime Blog-How Animal DNA Puts Killers Behind Bars by Cara Tabachnick. The article is not that current but it is a good overview of this subject without going deep into forensic science.

There are three animal crime solvers in this article. The first is a cockatoo who gave his life and the clue needed to bring the killers of his owner to justice. The bird put up a fight, pecking one of the perpetrators in the head, causing it to bleed. The perpetrator touched his head and then touched a light switch and DNA evidence was also found on the beak and claws of the bird as well as on bloody knives found at the scene sealed the fate of the killer.

Help with the DNA detection came from The University of California, Davis Veterinary Genetics laboratory which is the foremost animal DNA center in the country. This laboratory is featured in both the Meowntain Mystery books. The laboratory has the capacity to run it’s own tests and analysis in house and as a result, the two men who murdered the man and his cockatoo were convicted and both sent to prison for life. There is a happier ending for a parrot that was a key witness in a murder trial of a woman who shot her husband. That parrot could mimic voices perfectly and he did a verbal “play by play” in the voice of the husband crying, “Don’t shoot!”. Needless to say this helped convict the wife.

And let’s not forget man’s best friend who solved the abduction and murder case of a 7-year old girl. In addition to the other clues and evidence, Police found dog hair similar to that of the Van Dam family’s dog on the perpetrator’s clothing. Prosecutors argued the dog hair became attached to his clothing  when the kidnapper took the child from her bedroom. The murderer was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002.

And last but definitely NOT least is the story of the feline crime solver, Snowball.

A Canadian man was convicted of murdering a woman after hairs on a bloodstained jacket were genetically matched to his parents’ cat. The man lived with his parents and Snowball, a white American shorthair. This 1994 case is one of the few times that nonhuman DNA has been used in a murder trial.

The murdered woman’s body was found in a shallow grave a few months after she disappeared and police suspected her former common-law husband. By then, the brown leather jacket had been discovered, stuffed in a plastic bag and left in the woods. The cat hairs were found in the lining. Police sent a blood sample from Snowball and hair from the jacket for testing and it was found that DNA from the two specimens was identical.

So human criminals, if you have a pet or live in close proximity to a pet, beware. DNA experts note that cats have a huge amount of fur transfer. Detectives should pay attention if there is a litter box. Dogs [that] are transported in cars can lick windows or leave nose print or paw prints. If you are a pet loving criminal reading this post, I’d suggest you have a hairless pet but that breed could get you caught as it’s not always fur that is your downfall!

I hope you found these stories interesting and I promise you, we have some amazing animal and crime cases for you to solve with us in our new cozy mystery series.
Your Furriend,
Detective Oliver