NEW YORK CITY (BNO NEWS) — The nation’s first criminal dog-fighting DNA database has been established by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) on Tuesday, the ASPCA said.
Known as the Canine CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), the database is designed to help the criminal justice system investigate and prosecute dog fighting cases and address the growing problem of dog fighting using 21st century technology.
The Canine CODIS contains individual DNA profiles from dogs that have been seized during dog-fighting investigations and from unidentified samples collected at suspected dog-fighting venues. The HSMO provided the 400 original and initial samples of dog DNA collected from dogs that were seized last July during the nation’s largest dog-fighting seizure ever, a multi-state raid led by Tim Rickey, the ASPCA’s Senior Director of Field Investigation and Response, that followed an 18-month investigation by federal and state agencies.
“Dog fighting is a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise that leads to the cruel treatment and deaths of thousands of dogs nationwide every year,” Rickey said. “This database is an unprecedented and vital component in the fight against animal cruelty and will allow us to strengthen cases against animal abusers and seek justice for their victims.”
The database is similar to the FBI’s human CODIS, a computerized archive that stores DNA profiles from criminal offenders and crime scenes and is used in criminal and missing person investigations.
DNA analysis and matching through the database will help law enforcement agencies to identify relationships between dogs, enabling investigators to establish connections between breeders, trainers, and dog-fight operators. Blood collected from dog fighting sites will also be searched against the Canine CODIS database to identify the source.
“The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory has one of the largest sample databases in the world,” said Beth Wictum, Director of the Forensics Unit of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory in UC Davis’ School of Veterinary Medicine. “This is important for estimating the rarity of a DNA profile. The Canine CODIS database is unique because it includes many more DNA markers than are normally tested, and that provides greater power when calculating match probability or assigning parentage.”
“When these cases come to trial, it’s important to make your strongest case,” she adds. “DNA evidence not only establishes links between owners, breeders, and dog fighting sites, it tells a story. We can tie blood spatter on pit walls and clothing, or blood trails found outside of the pit, to a specific dog and tell his story for him. We become the voice for those victims.”
