Dr. Jennifer Woolf uncovers the details of veterinary forensics

vinfoundation
04/25/2026
Veterinary Career Journeys, Veterinary Mental Health, Veterinary Pulse Podcast
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Last Updated: 04/25/2026

Listen in as we talk with Dr. Jennifer Woolf and uncover the details of veterinary forensics. In this second episode she digs into the laws and of veterinary forensics, shares her experiences, and where colleagues can go for resources to learn about state-specific regulations.

*Trigger warning: this episode may include triggers associated with animal abuse and human abuse.*

Topics covered in this episode include:

Defining veterinary forensics
Top issues in the veterinary forensics field
Laws and legal process for reporting animal abuse
The role of law enforcement in animal abuse cases
The link between animal abuse and human abuse
Resources available for colleagues looking to learn more

As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation.

GUEST BIO:

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS

Dr. Woolf (pronouns: she/her) is a veterinarian with a Master of Science degree concentrated in Veterinary Forensics. Over the years, she has worked in private practices and animal welfare organizations as well as owning her own relief veterinary services business for many years. In 2014 she founded Woolf Veterinary Forensics Consulting where she lectures internationally on animal abuse, the Link, and veterinary forensics, as well as investigating and consulting on individual cases. She also works for Veterinary Information Network (VIN) as a Topic Specialist consulting on message boards, developing resources, and providing webinars on animal abuse and veterinary forensics for VIN members. Additionally, she writes articles for VIN members and the public. Dr. Woolf has published numerous articles, education modules, and a book chapter on animal cruelty topics, and was a 2018-2019 Don Low-CVMA Practitioner Fellow at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine in the Anatomic Pathology Department. Previously, she was an instructor in the University of Florida Veterinary Forensic Sciences Online Graduate Program. Dr. Woolf is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association (IVFSA), and a founding member of the Alameda County Animal Cruelty Task Force. Previously she has served on the boards of the IVFSA and the Contra Costa County Veterinary Medical Association.

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TRANSCRIPT

Intro

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: For veterinarians in particular, just looking to see where can you find some resources, and in particular, knowing what your resources are before the need arises, because oftentimes if you’re dealing with these cases it’s kind of a sudden moment that you’re dealing with it, like it showed up on emergency and you need to know beforehand what it is that you’re going to do. What is the game plan that you’re going to have?

Jordan Benshea: That is Jennifer Woolf, a small animal veterinarian with a concentration in veterinary forensics, and this is the VIN Foundation’s Veterinary Pulse podcast. I’m Jordan Benshea, Executive Director of the VIN Foundation. Join me as I talk with veterinary colleagues about critical topics and share stories, stories that connect us as humans, as animals, as a veterinary community. If you appreciate these podcast episodes, please consider making a donation to support these efforts. Please check the episode notes for bios, links, and information mentioned. Hey y’all, a quick heads up that some of the content in this episode may include a trigger as it relates to animal abuse and human abuse. As a reminder, the VIN Foundation’s confidential support group, Vets4Vets®, is here for you and you can find information to reach out in the episode notes. Please know you are not alone.

Meet Dr Jennifer Woolf

Jordan Benshea: Welcome everyone to our episode today. I’m really excited to have one of our favorite podcast guests back, and that is Dr. Jennifer Woolf. Dr. Woolf is a small animal veterinarian with a master’s degree in veterinary medicine and concentration in veterinary forensics. Welcome back, Jennifer.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Thank you. I’m glad to be back. Appreciate the opportunity.

Jordan Benshea: I’m really happy to have you here to talk about what is a very tough subject, but a really important subject since I would bet hopefully all of our listeners have a huge love and passion for animals and their wellbeing. So I think this topic’s a really important one. As a reminder to our audience, please share your current role in veterinary medicine.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: I am a small animal veterinarian by training, and then much of my work at this point is focused on investigation, education, and consultation on animal abuse and veterinary forensics.

What Veterinary Forensics Means

Jordan Benshea: And if somebody’s listening and thinks, oh, forensics, that’s probably like the CSI show I see on tv, how do you define veterinary forensics specifically?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Veterinary forensics is the overlap between veterinary medicine and the law. So it’s everything that I have learned as a veterinarian, all my experiences, my skills, and knowledge, and I’m taking all of that and applying it to the law to try and answer a legal question. And that legal question could be anything from, does this injury seem to be consistent with animal abuse? It could be does this bite wound come from this dog or from that dog? It could involve something more in the civil arena of was this insurance fraud on the horse that died? All of these sorts of things are considered part of the forensics field. Most of my focus is on animal abuse.

Jordan Benshea: And remind our audience, what drew you to that field? How did you first get involved in it?

First Dog Fighting Case

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: About 15 years ago now, maybe a little longer, I had been working at an animal shelter at that time, had finished doing some spays and neuters in the morning and was going to take a lunch break when the executive director for the shelter approached me and said, “hey, we’re going in on a dog fighting scene, we need somebody to triage the dogs, can you come?” And I looked at her like a deer in headlights and said, “I can do the medicine, that’s no problem, I know what to do with that, I don’t have any idea what to do with the legal stuff.” And she said, “don’t worry, I’ll tell you everything you need to know on the car ride over.” I promise you the car ride was not that long, and I went from crime scene to taking care of the dogs and doing their exams back at the shelter to having to testify in the courtroom, and I knew nothing about what I was supposed to be doing in this situation. So I made it through, but in hindsight I realized the kind of mistakes that I had made and I wanted to improve on that, so I started looking for educational opportunities at that point. Melinda Merck had her book out, which is probably like the Bible for veterinary forensics at that time, and in some ways still is, and so I started reading that. Then a few years later was when the University of Florida started their program in veterinary forensics where initially it was that you could get a certificate at the graduate level in veterinary forensics, and then it became a master’s degree. So I went through the program, got my master’s degree, taught in the program for a little while, and have been doing it ever since.

Jordan Benshea: So you’ve now been in this field over 15 years.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Correct.

Jordan Benshea: And you’ve probably seen a lot.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Probably. Yeah. Yeah. Primarily I would say it’s been neglect cases. Quite a number of starved animals, unfortunately. Have done hoarding cases, cock fighting, dog fighting obviously, a certain amount of abuse cases in the sense of like beatings or other methods of harming animals. A couple of sexual assaults unfortunately. So, yeah, I have seen quite a bit at this point.

Education Gap And Mandates

Jordan Benshea: So based on your experience, what do you see are some of the top issues in the veterinary forensics field?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Probably the biggest one in my mind is the lack of education for veterinarians in this. I graduated a million years ago in 1995, and we were taught absolutely nothing about animal abuse at that point. It probably was hardly even mentioned in any of my classes ever. So when we came out of veterinary school it just was an unknown entity and we were expected to be able to identify it because we were trained as veterinarians, but not because we’ve been trained in animal abuse or how to identify it or what to do if we thought we saw it or anything. And unfortunately, from what I see and hear talking to students from a study that was done a few years ago, we know that the schools still aren’t teaching much of it. If anything, they may mention it in a class, maybe they bring in a guest lecture for an hour at some point during the four years, but for the most part, it’s still kind of a taboo subject that doesn’t get talked about and students don’t learn about. Even though many of us live in states where we are mandated reporters, we don’t have the education to back that. That’s probably the biggest issue I see in the field at this point.

Jordan Benshea: What is a mandated reporter?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: It’s just the same as it would be for child abuse for instance. The way teachers are mandated reporters for child abuse, meaning they are required by law to report signs of child abuse. Veterinarians are mandated reporters in some states, but not all to report animal abuse, meaning that if we see something that looks suspicious for animal abuse, then we need to make a report in good faith to whatever the local jurisdiction is, whether that’s animal control or law enforcement, and allow them to follow up with investigation or whatever else they need to do to check on that case and see, is this or is this not really consistent with animal abuse?

Jordan Benshea: So you think there’s an a need for education for veterinarians in schools, and do you think that the reason that veterinary students aren’t getting that is that it is so complicated, that it’s just there’s only so much time in the curriculum? What do you see as the hold there?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: I think both of those are certainly part of it. That trying to teach everything that has to be taught in four years on multiple species, there’s a lot to learn, there’s a lot to teach. I think that part of it is that the schools feel like they don’t have the time to do it, but that they probably also don’t feel like they have the resources to do it, like who on their faculty is going to be teaching it. They probably don’t feel comfortable themselves. Many faculty members don’t feel comfortable talking about animal abuse. They wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to identify it, so they certainly can’t pass the knowledge along to their students. But I see more and more students actively seeking this sort of education, that it’s not unusual for me to get contacted by veterinary students and say, “hey, could you do a lunchtime lecture or an after hours lecture?” Or like yesterday I was at University of California Davis at their veterinary school at the behest of a couple of the clubs asking me to come talk during lunch to give one lecture. I gave another lecture in kind of the dinner hour, and then we went under the necropsy floor and practiced doing a forensic necropsy together. So the students want to learn this. They feel the need, but it’s not being taught for the most part.

Jordan Benshea: Wow, what a great opportunity for the UC Davis veterinary students.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Thank you.

Jordan Benshea: So what other issues? So the top one that you see in veterinary forensics is really number one, the need for education.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Yeah.

Jordan Benshea: What’s another issue that you see that’s important?

Training Beyond Veterinarians

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: The education needs to be not with veterinarians alone. Certainly veterinary technicians could use to learn something about animal abuse. Depending on the state, they may or may not be mandated reporters themselves. In California, licensed technicians are mandated reporters, but animal control officers, law enforcement, prosecutors, they all need to know a lot more about animal abuse than they do. One of the big problems that I see with trying to get these cases investigated is that a lot of times animal control officers do not have the training themselves on how to do this and or they do not have the authorization to be able to do it. They don’t have the legal ability to do an investigation or to make an arrest. So they’re dependent on law enforcement for the assist on that, but law enforcement has oftentimes a blind eye when it comes to something having to do with the animal. So they see an animal and they don’t want to have anything to do with any criminal anything with that. So law enforcement doesn’t want to do the investigation. Animal control, for whatever reason, isn’t doing the investigation, and in the meantime, there’s this animal that needs to have the case investigated. So sometimes I get contacted by owners saying, “hey, can you do the necropsy,” for instance, “on my deceased pet because no one else will do something.” And that’s a tough situation to be in for all of us.

Jordan Benshea: Absolutely.

Resources And Continuing Ed

Jordan Benshea: Do you feel that there are resources available for the field that are necessary?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Yeah, at this point there’s quite a number of textbooks on veterinary forensics out there, whether it’s on a more general level or specific to the pathology that may be seen in a necropsy. Those are available. There’s a lot of articles that are out there at this point looking at patterns of abuse. What does it look like if you’re seeing injuries seen from say physical abuse versus hit by car? How do the patterns of injury differ for dog fighting dogs versus there were two dogs that happened to get into a fight? So we can see a lot of different patterns of injury and the articles are there to help support what we’re seeing. Additionally, certainly there’s continuing education opportunities. The International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association has a conference every year in May, and that is an opportunity for veterinarians to come learn more about forensics in general from their peers, but also from law enforcement, from prosecutors, from animal control, and other folks who come to that meeting. So the opportunities I think are out there, it’s just a matter of being able to find the time for many people to take advantage of those opportunities.

Punishments And Prosecution

Jordan Benshea: Do you feel that there are strong enough punishments for the crimes being committed? And that might be as real as a little bit subjective based on the person, but how do you feel like that’s managed in the field?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: That one’s tough because a lot of the times the punishments really are not that high, and that’s one of the reasons prosecutors tend to not be so interested in pursuing these cases, is because they feel like it’s kind of a low yield type case where even if they get a conviction they’re not going to get a whole lot out of it. So they don’t like to put the time and resources in when they feel like as though they have bigger fish to fry. Animal abuse charges often are part of a number of different charges against somebody that they may have other crimes involved in that, and so unfortunately, animal abuse charges are often the ones that will get dropped in plea deals so that then they get the plea deal, they don’t have to go to trial, it’s cheaper and easier for many people. But it also means that that person does not have on record that they abused animals. So there’s nothing that is going to stop them from being able to get more animals when they can do that, whether they have to wait till after being out of jail or it’s something that they’re able to do right away because they had to pay a fine and then they were done.

Jordan Benshea: So the punishment is not consequential. Yeah. Sorry.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Yeah. It sets them up for the possibility of further abuse to occur.

Jordan Benshea: So I think what I’m hearing is that the punishments tend to not be so consequential to adjust the behavior.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Much of the time, no. We do see some higher level punishments usually with bigger crimes. So dog fighting situations where you’re dealing with multiple dog fighters and it’s across state lines, and so you’ve got multiple jurisdictions involved, maybe you’re getting involvement at the federal level as well, then you tend to get higher punishment. But in those cases, there’s also oftentimes illegal gambling, illegal guns, prostitution, human trafficking. So all those other crimes, those charges may be part of the reason that there are increased penalties for those people. It’s not just the animal abuse.

The Link To Human Violence

Jordan Benshea: So I think we touched on this in the initial episode that we did together, but you often I think hear that if somebody is potentially abusing an animal, that there is a level of or an opportunity or a pattern that might continue with human on human abuse. Is that something that you see in the forensics?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Absolutely. It’s what we refer to in the field as the link, and it’s the connection between animal abuse and violence against humans, including child abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse, mass shootings, school shootings. Essentially, the rule of thumb is that if you are seeing violence against humans, there may be violence against animals going on in that home. If you see violence against animals, there may be violence against human going on in that home, that somebody who is abusive will be abusive to whomever or whatever they can be abusive to. It doesn’t necessarily have to two legs versus four kind of thinking. So unfortunately some crimes in particular are more likely to be tied together. We know that oftentimes where there is child sexual abuse, there is animal sexual abuse and vice versa. So those unfortunately are tied closely. Domestic violence and violence against animals often is seen together. Protective orders, restraining orders as they’re commonly known, more commonly in states now will include clauses that will include the animals in the protection order. Part of it is perhaps a recognition of the animal human bond between the victim and their pet, but it also is part of the recognition that abuse of the pet is one way to control a victim. So if they don’t protect the pet, then that person who’s abusing the victim still may have control over the victim by threatening or harming the pet.

How To Report Suspected Abuse

Jordan Benshea: So what is the legal process for veterinary colleagues if they suspect abuse?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Anytime a veterinarian suspects abuse, they can contact their local animal control if they have such a agency within their jurisdiction, and if not that, then they can contact their local law enforcement. These are reportable crimes, so it is something that law enforcement and animal control should be on top of and should be investigating. Having said that, I know that a number of colleagues in different jurisdictions feel as though those agencies will not help them at all with these cases for a variety of different reasons. Some of the more benign ones are the lack of training that we discussed a little bit ago. Unfortunately, some of the more malignant type of reasons can be because law enforcement or animal control is trying to protect somebody that they know is doing the abusing or that they feel like as though this is not a big deal because this is how they treat their own dog. So we do have problems in different jurisdictions with this, but in general, that’s how one would make a report, would be to contact animal control or law enforcement.

Know Your State Laws

Jordan Benshea: You mentioned earlier in the episode that the laws can vary based on state. Where should veterinarians go to know what their role is based on their state?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: The best resources that I recommend are to take a look at the National Link Coalition for information on how to report animal abuse. They’ve got a webpage there that lists out by state, city, and county where somebody might need to make a report. And if you take a look at that, it’s kind of overwhelming sometimes to realize how many different agencies could potentially be involved just within your own county, which is part of the reason that makes it so difficult to make a report for veterinarians. It’s not like call 911 and you’re done with it. The other big website that I refer people to is the Michigan State University’s Animal Law website, which is animallaw.info and that…

Jordan Benshea: And we’ll put these in the episode notes as well so that you can easily click on them.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: That website has a consolidation of all of the laws, whether it’s on mandatory reporting, whether it’s dog fighting, whether the neglect laws in that area is tethering aloud in your state and so forth. So that’s an excellent resource to take a look at to try and at least get a handle on the laws in your area. That said, I do recommend that if anybody is really wanting to know about their laws at the moment, take the consolidation website like that one at Michigan State, take the section number for the law and put it into your browser with your state to see whether or not there’s been any changes, because while the website does try to keep up with things, sometimes it is a little bit behind and the laws change frequently, so it’s difficult to keep up.

Jordan Benshea: And what laws currently impact animal abuse reporting for veterinary colleagues?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: It depends on the state. In some states, we are mandated reporters for animal abuse, which means that if we have a suspicion of animal abuse, we need to make a report in good faith. The good faith part just basically means we’re reporting because we are suspicious of animal abuse. We’re not reporting because the guy didn’t pay his bill or some other type of problem. That has nothing to do with animal abuse in general. Depending on the state, there may or may not be civil and or criminal immunity for making the report. Essentially, that would mean that you are protected for having made the report and you can’t have the person turn around and come after you and the court system. It’s like suing you simply because you made a report. In some states, veterinarians have voluntary reporting, which means that there are laws in the book that say that if you would choose to make a report, you may do so. If you do not want to make a report, you’re not required to do so. Those states may also have some level of immunity. It would be written into the law. And then there’s a third category of a few states that have absolutely no indication whatsoever about what a veterinarian’s duty is, should they see signs of animal abuse. So veterinarians have absolutely no idea what they can or cannot do, what they should or should not do, and what protections may or may not be available to them should they make a report?

Jordan Benshea: Are there similar laws for the general public when reporting animal abuse?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Generally speaking, as far as I’m aware, no. The general public may report animal abuse, of course, but there’s nothing out there that says that they have to report animal abuse. It’s kind of like the laws in some locations for child abuse, that in some locations specific professions are called out if you must report child abuse, you were a mandatory reporter for it, and in other locations they make it very general of anyone who sees child abuse has to make a report, so that would include the entire public.

Species And Use Change Laws

Jordan Benshea: Unfortunately, I’m sure there’s animal abuse across many species. Do the laws differ by species?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Yes, oftentimes they do. They will differ between species, such as companion animals like dogs and cats may fall under one type of law within that jurisdiction, whereas livestock like cattle and sheep may fall under a different set of laws in that particular jurisdiction. There’s also the problem of the laws differing depending on not the species, but on the use of the animal. So the same species used in different ways may be under different laws. So for instance, a rabbit may be viewed as a companion animal by the law if it’s being kept as a pet and will be under one set of laws. If it is in a research laboratory, then it is probably going to fall under the Animal Welfare Act at the federal level and will be under that set of laws. If it is being raised for meat or fiber, then it may fall under yet another set of laws. And if it is a wild rabbit, then it may fall under wildlife laws. Same species…

Jordan Benshea: Wow.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: But different laws apply based on that animal’s usage to the humans, not because of anything that changed with the species.

Jordan Benshea: So that would be how the use of the animals differs in the laws.

Law Enforcement Realities

Jordan Benshea: Is animal control the only legal enforcement for animal abuse cases?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: No, technically law enforcement also would be available to enforce animal abuse, to investigate animal abuse and the like. It’s depending a great deal on the case and the jurisdiction as to whether or not law enforcement will get involved in these cases.

Jordan Benshea: And how does law enforcement manage these animal abuse cases?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Again, it’s extremely dependent on the jurisdiction and sometimes on the individual officer, that some really want to have absolutely nothing to do with these cases and will avoid them. Others are very interested. Maybe they have their own dogs, they love dogs, and they definitely want to make sure the dogs are safe, so they will get themselves involved in the cases. It’s the same problem unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, with a lack of training. That if they don’t have the training, if they don’t even know where the laws are in their jurisdiction, that they can’t find them in the books, they don’t know what they can and cannot enforce. They don’t know what they’re allowed to do with animals because animals are considered property, so it’s a different category than what would happen if it was a human that was being abused if in some manner. All of that can make it very complicated for law enforcement, and so sometimes they are very unwilling to get involved because they don’t know what to do either, and so they back off.

Specialization And Support

Jordan Benshea: If colleagues want to learn more, what resources are available for them within veterinary forensics? We’ve spoken about the laws and those websites that you recommend that we’ll make sure to put in the episode’s notes and all the resources will be in the episode notes for colleagues to explore, but are there ones that are specific if somebody’s interested in learning more about the specialization?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: If somebody wants to get involved in forensics, specifically Morrison, not just for if they have one single case they’re worrying about, but they really want to do this sort of thing, the University of Florida and Florida International University both have some level of master’s degree in veterinary forensics. They have different masters. They call them different things, but it’s still training in veterinary forensics. I believe there’s some educational opportunities up at the, I want to say the University of Connecticut. I might be wrong on that one. Certainly again, continuing education courses are available. I try to have a lot of stuff on the VIN website, Veterinary Information Network website. There’s an animal abuse and veterinary forensic center there, and I do consult with them as a topic specialist on animal abuse. So colleagues can certainly post questions to the message boards and ask that the forensic veterinarian come visit the board. Beyond that a lot of it is up to the veterinarian to find the education for themselves because it doesn’t jump out at you. It’s not like somebody’s going to come and bring you a lunch and learn from Merck or some other pharmaceutical agency or anything like this. We’re on our own for this stuff most of the time.

Jordan Benshea: And I am sure that this topic comes with a huge emotional toll. Where do you feel it is helpful for colleagues to go for support?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Oftentimes if I am dealing with a difficult case, I will talk to other colleagues. We’re a pretty small community, so I have contact information for colleagues across the country and frankly across the world that I can talk with them about what I’m going through on various cases. There’s of course the Vets4Vets® at the VIN Foundation, that would be another resource to contact to talk to somebody to find out what other sources may be available to you or to talk with each other about things. But yeah, it can be challenging. I do a lot of the work myself, alone without assistance and without colleagues, and sometimes I really wish I had somebody else in the office I could say, “hey, could you come give a look at this?”

What Still Needs Improvement

Jordan Benshea: Are there other resources you wish were available that aren’t now for colleagues that are suspecting abuse or witnessing abuse? I think one you just mentioned is more sort of emotional toll support and you mentioned Vets4Vets®, which absolutely in the over 15 years it’s been going colleagues have definitely helped colleagues that are struggling with this type of emotional toll. But are there other areas that you wish or resources that you wish were available to be helpful?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: I wish prosecutors had a lot more training in this so that they would know what they need to be doing with the cases. Many times prosecutors aren’t familiar with the laws either, particularly in a state like California where we’ve got a ton of laws and the laws are all over the place. So they’re hard to find. It’s not as though they’re all grouped in one nice, neat little package for us. I also tend to see at the prosecution level that these cases are kind of like the hot potato that gets passed from prosecutor to prosecutor to prosecutor, and so there’s not any one person or a few people in the office who really get to know and understand how these cases work and how to handle these cases. So I’d love to see more education for prosecutors on this. And there is a prosecuting association that does do, I think it’s pretty much annual, conferences on animal abuse cases and how to deal with those prosecutions. There’s also the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which is there to help prosecutors specifically assisting them on what to do with these sort of cases, how to approach them, what to be thinking about it and such.

Toolkits, Talks, And Wrap Up

Jordan Benshea: Are there any other resources or information you want to leave our audience with?

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: I don’t think there’s anything specific that I haven’t already mentioned. I’m certainly well willing to answer questions like I said on the VIN website, or I’ve got my own website out there. People can contact me if they have questions. I think mostly it’s for veterinarians in particular, just looking to see where can you find some resources, and in particular, knowing what your resources are before the need arises, because oftentimes if you’re dealing with these cases it’s kind of a sudden moment that you’re dealing with it, like it showed up on emergency and you need to know beforehand what it is that you’re going to do. What is the game plan that you’re going to have? The AVMA came out with a whole toolkit this past July, I believe it was. So they’ve got a lot of information on their website as well at this point that can be very useful.

Jordan Benshea: Wonderful. And if people want to hear you speak, I know that you’re at UC Davis, but do you have upcoming speaking engagements that people might be able to come see you at.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Yes. Probably the biggest one that I have coming up will be, well, two of them. One will be at the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association Conference next month in May. That will be in Banff, Canada, and you can go to the IVFSA.org website to get information on that conference. And then in July I will be speaking at the AVMA Conference in Anaheim, California. I’ll be doing four hours of education on animal abuse there.

Jordan Benshea: Thank you so much, Jennifer, for all of your hard work and supporting animals and caring for them, and very grateful that you are looking out for the animals that we all love. And I really appreciate your time here today and to take the time and effort to share with our audience, and hopefully it’ll help some people go in with a bit more eyes wide open.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity coming to talk to the VIN Foundation. It’s great to be able to get the word out more.

Jordan Benshea: Yeah. I think that’s probably one of the best things we can do is help get the word out of resources so that people feel less alone in these instances. Support them when they are in these situations and do what we can to do outreach about education.

Jennifer Woolf, DVM, MS: Absolutely. Thank you.

Jordan Benshea: Thank you, Jennifer.

Outro

Jordan Benshea: Thank you for joining us for this episode of the Veterinary Pulse. Please check the episode notes for additional information referenced in the podcast. If you enjoyed this podcast, please follow, subscribe, and share review. We welcome feedback and hope you will tune in again. You can find out more about the VIN Foundation through our website, VINFoundation.org, and our social media channels. Thank you for being here. Be well.