Episode 5

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Published on:

8th May 2026

Wildlife Forensics - 2026 Animal ForensiCon

The 2026 Animal ForensiCon in Orlando, Florida

Dr. Adam Stern, Dr. Eileen Roy-Zokan, and Victoria Bradley describe what is Wildlife Forensics and how crime scene investigation techniques, DNA analysis, and animal victim examination can help build these cases for prosecution.

Transcript
Speaker:

Dr. G:

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All right, so we just got out of

the wildlife forensics talk, and

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there were many people involved,

some that have already been on the

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podcast and somebody that's new.

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So let's start with the OGs.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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Hey, this is Adam Stern.

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Just got done with that

wildlife master class.

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It was fantastic.

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Dr. Eileen Roy-Zokan:

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Hi, I'm Eileen Roy-Zokan, and I

cover DNA analysis in wildlife.

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Victoria Bradley: And I'm the new

one, Victoria Bradley, a crime scene

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level two with the Winter Park Police

Department, and I was invited by Dr.

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Stern here to go over vehicle

processing regarding any

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evidence for animal and/or human.

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Dr. G:

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So let's start with a simple

question, that may not be so simple.

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What's the difference between wildlife

forensics and companion animal forensics?

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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So really, in a nutshell, there's no

difference from how you would process a

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scene, how you would do animal autopsies,

how you would collect evidence from,

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from anything, the animal, uh, vehicle.

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It's really just the, the types

of crimes that might be different,

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where, you know, traditionally we

think when we're dealing with cats

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and dogs, animal cruelty, neglect.

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When we're dealing with wildlife, we then

kind of pivot and think about poaching,

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but then you do have cases where we do

have animal cruelty and, and so there's

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a lot of overlap with, with all of that.

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Dr. G:

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So we're talking about DNA, and so

I'm assuming that DNA is gonna be

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used somewhat similarly to companion

animals, but then there's gonna

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be some differences as well, yeah?

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Dr. Eileen Roy-Zokan:

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Yeah, there's gonna be some differences.

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So with the DNA, it's again, you

know, just like with domestic

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animals, you could have, what is it?

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If you're trying to look at what

animal's responsible for a spate of

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neighborhood attacks like, is it the

neighborhood dogs that are doing it?

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Is it a coyote?

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Is it a bear?

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And also who is it?

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Which neighborhood dog is doing

it, or which bear is doing it?

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So a lot of the, the questions and

analyses will be the same as long as

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you have the genetic databases there.

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There are some other additional

questions that we can answer with

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wildlife when it comes to more,

like, geographic origin, when it...

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especially when it comes to

repatriation of animals that are

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confiscated during trafficking.

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You know, do we have the genetic data?

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If we have the genetic data, you

know, if we have some freshwater

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turtles that have, like, box turtles,

do we know around, you know, what

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river basins they kind of belong to?

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And you can put them back into the

population they were taken from.

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Those are k- some of the kinda

more specialized things that

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you can do with wildlife DNA.

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Dr. G:

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Now, when we're looking at the

crime scene, what are specific

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things that we're looking when we're

doing wildlife and being outside?

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Victoria Bradley: So obviously,

when it comes to that, you know,

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we're here in Florida, one of

the things is Your weather.

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You gotta be comfortable with maybe being

exposed to rain and stuff while you're

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still processing the scene, and that

determines, like, how quick you need

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to maybe collect a certain viable piece

of evidence so it doesn't get damaged.

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But essentially, when you're processing,

you are doing the same thing as if you

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were working for a traditional homicide

case or maybe a child neglect case.

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You're documenting and getting

that evidence so that it can

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be utilized for court later on.

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So it really doesn't change if it's

animal or human for the most part.

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The practice stays the same.

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Dr. G:

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During the talk, you were talking about

your experience with, like, testifying

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in, in wildlife forensics, and you

had some very interesting cases.

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What...

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So what are the challenges that

you received as far as, talking

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about wildlife as opposed to

talking to a, about a dog or a cat?

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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I think the, the biggest challenge

is sometimes people are gonna

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challenge you because you've never

worked on that species before, right?

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So I don't know.

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If you have a case of an aardvark,

well, how many aardvarks have

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you ever looked at, right?

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Dr. G:

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Right.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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But you can still, you know, take

the medicine that you practice or

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the investigation skills you have

for collection off of the animal,

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and it's all applicable, right?

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Just the anatomy's a little different.

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So we might have to actually hit

the textbook and be like, "Well,

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what, what does the stomach

of an aardvark look like?"

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'Cause honestly, I don't know, uh, if it's

anything different than some of the other

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mammals that might be closely related.

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So I think that's one of the

biggest challenges, and that's

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something that people might pick on.

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But, you know, other than that,

if the animal's been shot, for

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example, being shot is being shot.

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The, the mechanics, the physics

behind that is exactly the same.

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The animal is gonna be traumatized

in a very similar manner, right?

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It might behave differently.

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Um, if it's a non-fatal injury,

the behavior might be different.

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So maybe it's got more

feathers, more scales.

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But at the end of the day, I think

that, that's gonna be the, the

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biggest thing, is it just might

not be a species we've worked on.

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When it comes to some of the other work

that, like, Eileen does with DNA, we

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might have more challenges because of the

lack of databases, uh, for individuality.

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But if you just wanna say,

"That is, that is X species,"

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that w- w- we could do that.

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Um, so it really depends on your

question, um, and then the answers

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we might be able to give you or not.

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Dr. G:

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We talked about collecting entomology

samples and dos and don'ts of

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collecting entomology sample.

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What are dos and don'ts of

collecting samples for DNA analysis?

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Dr. Eileen Roy-Zokan:

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Oh, that's a great question.

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It's basically trying to ke- keep

the cross-contamination down is the

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biggest, one of the biggest things.

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So if you're collecting tissues You

wanna make sure that the tool that

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you're using, whether that's a razor

blade or a knife, you wanna make sure

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that you've cleaned that really well

with some alcohol before you collect it.

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So the other big tip that I can

give is, or recommendation or advice

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for collecting DNA samples is in

reference to animal interaction cases.

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So if you have, like, an animal that's

been attacked by another animal, or if

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you have a human that's been attacked by

an animal, what you wanna make sure is

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you don't wanna sample inside the wound.

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You wanna sample around it.

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'Cause if you sample inside the wound,

it's gonna get become too saturated with

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the victim's DNA to where we're not gonna

be able to access the perpetrator's DNA.

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So what we're looking for is

trying to capture the saliva of

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the perpetrator, so you wanna get

around the wound and not inside.

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Dr. G:

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I think that's really good because

logic would say that you wanna

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get from the inside because that's

where you know that it happened.

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Dr. Eileen Roy-Zokan:

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Exactly.

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Exactly.

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That's what we commonly see, but

yeah, it's around, not inside.

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Dr. G:

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As you're collecting everything and you

wanna bring it to a prosecutor so there

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can be charges, what are do's and don'ts

of getting all your information together?

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Victoria Bradley: Honestly, um, you know,

try not to get, like, a tunnel vision.

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Sometimes these cases can, like,

bleed into, "Oh my gosh, that dog

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just looks like my, my, my fur baby

back home," or, um, you have a special

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love for, for that type of animal.

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Uh, so making sure that you're not

tunneling and being biased when

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you're collecting that evidence.

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So you're gonna collect everything

that's possibly there, and

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then reach out to your experts.

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Don't, don't think you're above

the knowledge of what's there.

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If I'm not familiar with, an

alligator or something, "Hey,

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what should I be looking for?"

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And reach out to those people, so that

you can work in hand-in-hand with the

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state attorney and bring, you know, the

case to full circle and, and be able to

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prosecute that as the best as you can.

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So just not letting your ego or

your tunnel vision get in the way.

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Dr. G:

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That is sound advice because I have

seen that so many times, right?

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Like, animal cruelty cases are

such an, an emotional case.

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Victoria Bradley: Yes.

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Dr. G:

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And people just do not become

objective And then in the end,

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you can appear biased, which then,

you know, throws everything out.

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Victoria Bradley: Absolutely.

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So it's definitely something to keep

in, in mind and then try to control

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as much as we know it, it does affect

your, your mental state for to a

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degree, is making sure that you have

that, that moment to decompress and

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just process it like any other case.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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I think the, the other thing that

I think we've all mentioned in some

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fashion is document, document, document.

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Document.

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Right?

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Write it down.

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Photograph it.

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If you think you got enough

photos, take a few more.

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Take more.

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Uh, because you probably need it, right?

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So really the, the big thing is

wildlife crimes, the, the crimes might

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be different, but the documentation is

exactly the same whether you are, um,

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right outside here in this little forest

in Orlando or you are in the middle of

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a major national forest, um, out west.

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It really doesn't matter.

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You just have to document

it as best you can.

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Um, and then knowing some

of your limitations, right?

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If you are, you know, hundreds of miles

from the nearest area of civilization,

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you gotta bring everything with you.

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Phone a friend or another expert where

you're like, "I have questions on,

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you know, toxicology," or, "Hey, I

think there might be some interesting,

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you know, trace evidence here, but

I don't know how to approach this."

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Ask for help.

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There's a lot of people out there who are

willing to help you and, you know, know

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your limitations like how we just said.

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Dr. G:

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So anybody that is interested

in pursuing wildlife cases,

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where can they get information?

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I mean, obviously here at the ForensicCon,

but what, what are good places for people

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to get more information about this?

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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So I think there's, there's

a, a number of places.

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If you're looking at some of the

federal cases, so the use of-- US

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Fish and Wildlife has a forensic

lab in, in Ashland, Oregon.

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Uh, so that's one place.

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It's a resource that's available.

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There are some really good textbooks

out there if you just wanna have a nice

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read, um, on some on DNA, some on, on

just kind of overall wildlife crime.

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So there's some really

good things out there.

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And then, you know, every once in a

while there's, there's a webinar that

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comes up, like things that are, are low

cost that you can start to dabble in and

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start to learn more, and then you can

start to contact people and say, "Hey,

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I wanna actually want to physically

learn more" and, and reach out to some

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of the, the, the people who are in the

field, and they might be able to help

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you learn more, break into the field

or anything else that you might need.

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Victoria Bradley: I would say from a crime

scene standpoint, 'cause, you know, you're

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gonna have, um, animal control potentially

come out for those scenes, get in contact

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with your local agency that service you.

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And, um, I made this contact just

recently and was able to discuss,

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like, certain things, and one of

the, the topics was bestiality.

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I didn't think of that at all.

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Um, and they were saying, "We would like

the crime scene person to be present

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during that time of collection so that

they are not in the chain of custody

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essentially, and it makes it just a

streamlined process so that we can

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turn it over later on for analysis."

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I would have never thought of that

if I didn't reach out firsthand.

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So I think that's the best thing to

do if you're a crime scene person

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is to reach out and see what that

procedure looks like and be a

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little bit, proactive than reactive.

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Dr. G:

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Well, thank you so much for speaking

with me, and thank you for this talk

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because it was very, very enlightening.

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Victoria Bradley: Awesome.

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Thank you.

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Thank you so much.

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Dr. Adam Stern:

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Thanks for having us on your show.

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Victoria Bradley: Yeah

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About the Podcast

The Animal Welfare Junction
Veterinary Forensics
The Animal Welfare Junction is a podcast developed to bring awareness to different topics in animal welfare. The host, Michelle Gonzalez (Dr. G) is a veterinarian who provides affordable veterinary care in the State of Ohio, and also a Forensic Veterinarian helping with the investigation and prosecution of cases of animal cruelty and neglect.
The topics presented are based on the experiences of Dr. G and our guests and include discussions about real cases, humane projects, and legal issues that affect animals and the community. Due to the nature of the discussion, listener discretion is advised as some topics may be too strong for some listeners.

About your host

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Alba Gonzalez

Michelle González (DrG) was born and raised in Puerto Rico. Her passion growing up was to become a veterinarian. She obtained a B.S. in Zoology at Michigan State University and the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at The Ohio State University, followed by a 1-yr Internship in Medicine, Surgery, Emergency and Critical Care at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In 2006 she founded the Rascal Unit, a mobile clinic offering accesible and affordable sterilization, and wellness services throughout the State of Ohio.
Dr. G is involved in many aspects of companion veterinary medicine including education, shelter assistance and help to animals that are victims of cruelty and neglect.
DrG completed a Master’s degree in Veterinary Forensics from the University of Florida and a Master’s in Forensic Psychology from Southern New Hampshire University. She is currently enrolled at the University of Florida Forensic Science program. She assists Humane organizations and animal control officers in the investigation, evaluation, and prosecution of cases of animal cruelty and neglect.