{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,2]],"date-time":"2026-04-02T18:50:25Z","timestamp":1775155825037,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,20]],"date-time":"2021-09-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1632096000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Animal crimes are a widespread phenomenon with serious implications for animal welfare, individual well-being and for society in general. These crimes are universal and represent a major problem in human\/animal interaction. In Portugal, current law 69\/2014 criminalizes the mistreatment and abandonment of companion animals. This study characterizes forensic cases received at the Laboratory of Pathology of the National Institute of Agrarian and Veterinary Investigation (Vair\u00e3o) since the enforcement of the aforementioned legislation. A retrospective study was carried out based on the consult of 160 data files of forensic necropsies from 127 dogs and 33 cats. Necropsies confirmed prior crime suspicion in 38 cases (24%), from which 33 were dogs and five were cats. Among confirmed cases, most of assaulted animals were medium-size (57%), crossbreed (55%) male (58%) dogs (87%), which were the victims of blunt force trauma (31%), firearms (27%), poisoning (27%) and asphyxiation (15%). In cats, most of the assaulted animals were juvenile (60%) females (60%) of unknown breed (40%), which suffered blunt force trauma (100%) as the only cause of death. The present study shows that violence against animals is a reality, and complaints about these crimes are gradually increasing due to the population\u2019s raising awareness about animal rights. Greater communication and coordination between clinicians, veterinary pathologists, and law enforcement officers are essential to validate and legally support these cases and subject them to trial.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani11092744","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,20]],"date-time":"2021-09-20T07:52:14Z","timestamp":1632124334000},"page":"2744","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Characterization of Suspected Crimes against Companion Animals in Portugal"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Diana","family":"Ara\u00fajo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto (UP), Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Carla","family":"Lima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Nacional de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o Agr\u00e1ria e Veterin\u00e1ria, Rua dos Lagidos, Lugar da Madalena, 4485-655 Vair\u00e3o, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8769-8103","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o R.","family":"Mesquita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto (UP), Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"Epidemiology Research Unit (EPIUnit), Instituto de Sa\u00fade P\u00fablica da Universidade do Porto, Rua das Taipas 135, 4050-600 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Irina","family":"Amorim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto de Ci\u00eancias Biom\u00e9dicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto (UP), Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal"},{"name":"i3S\u2014Instituto de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o e Inova\u00e7\u00e3o da Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen 208, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Cristina","family":"Och\u00f4a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Instituto Nacional de Investiga\u00e7\u00e3o Agr\u00e1ria e Veterin\u00e1ria, Rua dos Lagidos, Lugar da Madalena, 4485-655 Vair\u00e3o, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"353","DOI":"10.23907\/2017.032","article-title":"Eternally Vulnerable: The Pathology of Abuse in Domestic Animals","volume":"7","author":"McEwen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Acad. 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