Animal ForensiCon 2026 - What to Expect from the Conference with Dr. Adam Stern

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Dr. G:

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Hi, and welcome to The

Animal Welfare Junction.

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This is your host, Dr.

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G, and our music is written

and produced by Mike Sullivan.

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We are at the Hilton DoubleTree at

the entrance of Universal Orlando

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for the 2026 Animal Forensicon.

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Let's see what they have going on.

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All right, we are at the twenty twenty-six

Animal Forensicon, and here is Dr.

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Adam Stern to tell us about it.

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So thank you for inviting the

Animal Welfare Junction again.

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And what are people going

to be seeing this weekend?

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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So this weekend, we, you know,

try to raise the bar every year.

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Uh, it's, it's great having you back, so

we can share this with all your listeners

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and maybe have them come next year.

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Yes.

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Um, so, so this year we have

a couple of different things.

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We-we're doing some photography workshops

where, we're concentrating on sort of

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outdoor, crime scene documentation.

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We're doing wildlife workshops.

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We're doing, more of a domestic

animal, workshops with, dog

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fighting and cockfighting.

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We're talking about the link.

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Some of the lectures coming up are kind

of thinking outside the box a little bit.

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So one of the things we're,

we're highlighting this

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year is follow the money.

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And so we have Florida's newest, law

enforcement agency, the Gaming Commission

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here, and they're gonna talk about

how they follow the money for gambling

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and, and that relationship to some of

the animal cases like dog fighting.

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We're gonna be talking about some

best practices for fingerprints and

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essentially what not to do, because we

always say, you know, get fingerprints,

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but now we're gonna hear what we

should do and what we should not do

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to make sure we don't destroy them,

when we try-- before we get them.

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We're gonna have some toxicology

talks, We're gonna have talks on fraud.

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So really trying to highlight

some of the other kinds of crimes

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and not belittle animal cruelty.

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We have plenty of that, but we're

trying to show some of the other

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things that forensic science can

do to help with, you know, other

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statutes that the various states have.

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Dr. G:

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Well, and the link is

really important, right?

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Just because animal cruelty is related

to interpersonal violence, and I think

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that o-one of the things that I get

from the speakers and the talks is

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the variety, because then you learn

a little bit about law, and you learn

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a bit, little bit about animals and a

little bit about the different things.

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And so y- that may be your field,

and you're learning more, but if

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it's not your field, you have the

opportunity to immerse yourself into

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what other things are out there, right?

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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Yeah, and that's one of the things

that all the speakers realize is that

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we have, we have investigators here.

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We have veterinarians.

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We have some vet techs.

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We have animal welfare advocates.

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We have attorneys here.

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And so being able to teach all

of these different groups, um, is

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really important because if only

one group knows everything, and

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then the other groups know nothing,

we're not gonna move the bar, right?

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We're gonna stay at the status quo.

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But once you start educating all these

different groups at the same time, they're

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asking questions that- You know, one of

the other groups in the room might know.

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And they're like, "You never knew that?"

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And so we're starting these

conversations of, "Okay, I knew

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that, but I didn't know that.

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You knew that, but you didn't know that."

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And now we're starting to, uh, educate

all across the board and, and making

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these cases, more seamless, right?

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And knowing how to communicate with

an attorney as a veterinarian or how

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should a veterinarian, uh, interact

with an investigator and, and knowing

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the different questions and different

answers that each group can, can

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work on is gonna be really important.

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And then, you know, we help the animals,

and then we identify because of the link,

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the, the human victims out there as well.

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So there's so many connections

that we try to highlight, um, and

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teach all in these three days.

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Dr. G:

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Well, and collaboration

is important, right?

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Like, you cannot really have a

solid case without involving a

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lot of different stakeholders.

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So I feel that these, these things also

kind of inform the different people about,

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yeah, you're important because this is

what you bring and this is what all the

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other people in the, in the team bring.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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Oh, 100%.

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You know, when I teach what is forensic

science and what is animal forensic

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science or veterinary forensic science,

um, you really have to highlight what

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the different sciences can do, right?

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There's not one science that

can answer all of the questions.

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Just think about, um, why dead, right?

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That might be a pathologist.

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How long dead might be an entomologist

saying minimum time of colonization.

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Um, pathologist might say,

"I think it's a poison."

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Toxicologist is gonna answer

that question for you.

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Um, then we find that there's a

bottle and you find the fingerprint

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on it, and so that's when a crime

scene tech and trace evidence...

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So we're all answering different questions

and then the prosecutor gets to digest all

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of that and use all of that information

when they have to go and prove their

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case ultimately in court in the end or

make a plea deal, whatever it might be.

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But having all those answers, there's

not one science that can do it all.

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Dr. G:

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Well, I love that the way that the Animal

ForensicsCon is evolving and I'm looking

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forward to what this week has to offer

and again, thank you for having us here.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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And thanks for having us on your show.