Cat Hair DNA Could Link Criminals to Crime Scenes, Study Shows

Have you ever wondered what your pet's hair can reveal about you? You might be surprised to learn that it can be used to solve crimes and bring justice to both humans and animals.

How forensic scientists use feline DNA to solve crimes

(Photo : YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)

You may have heard of using DNA from human hair, blood, or saliva to identify suspects or victims in criminal cases.

But did you know that DNA from pet hairs can also be used as evidence? In fact, forensic scientists have been using feline DNA to solve crimes for more than a decade.

Feline DNA is unique because cats have a high genetic diversity and a low mutation rate. This means that each cat has a distinct DNA profile that can be traced back to its parents and ancestors.

By comparing the DNA from a cat hair found at a crime scene with a database of cat DNA samples, forensic scientists can narrow down the possible owners of the cat and link them to the crime.

One of the first cases that used feline DNA as evidence was in 2007, when a British woman named Janet Brown was murdered in her home.

The police found a bloody palm print and a cat hair on a curtain near the body. They matched the palm print to a man named David Hilder, who was a friend of the victim's daughter. But they also wanted to confirmed that the cat hair belonged to his cat, Tinker.

The police contacted Dr. Jon Wetton, a geneticist at the University of Leicester, who had developed a method to extract and analyze feline DNA.

He compared the cat hair with Tinker's DNA and found that they matched. He also compared the cat hair with a database of more than 1,000 cat DNA samples from across the UK and found that Tinker's DNA was very rare, with only three other matches in the database.

This gave strong evidence that Hilder was at the crime scene and had killed Brown. He was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life in prison.

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The challenges and benefits of using feline DNA in forensics

Using feline DNA as evidence is not without its challenges. One of them is collecting and preserving the cat hairs properly.

Cat hairs are very fine and can easily be lost or contaminated by other sources of DNA. They also need to be stored in a dry and cool place to prevent degradation.

Another challenge is obtaining enough cat DNA samples to create a reliable database. Unlike human DNA databases, which are maintained by governments and law enforcement agencies, there is no official database for cat DNA.

Instead, researchers rely on voluntary submissions from cat owners or veterinarians who collect cheek swabs or blood samples from their cats

However, despite these challenges, using feline DNA as evidence has many benefits. One of them is that it can provide additional information that human DNA cannot.

For example, feline DNA can reveal the sex, coat color, and breed of the cat, which can help narrow down the search for the owner.

It can also indicate if the cat has been spayed or neutered, which can affect its behavior and roaming patterns.

Another benefit is that it can help solve cases that involve animal cruelty or wildlife crimes. For instance, feline DNA can be used to identify poachers who kill endangered cats like tigers or leopards for their fur or bones. It can also be used to prosecute people who abuse or neglect their pets or stray cats.

Feline DNA is not only useful for catching criminals, but also for helping innocent people.

For example, in 2012, a Texas man named Ernesto Aguilar was accused of killing his neighbor's cat with a bow and arrow. He claimed that he had mistaken the cat for a raccoon.

The police found a cat hair on his arrow and sent it to Dr. Barbara Ottolini, a forensic scientist at Texas A&M University, who had created a database of feline DNA from more than 400 cats in Texas.

She compared the cat hair with the database and found that it did not match any of the cats in her database, nor did it match the victim's cat. This proved that Aguilar was telling the truth and he was cleared of the charges.

Feline DNA is a powerful tool that can help solve crimes and protect animals. As more researchers collect and analyze cat DNA samples, they hope to create a global database that can be shared and accessed by forensic scientists around the world.

This way, they can catch more criminals with the help of their furry friends.