Dog Brought In French Court To Identify Owner’s Murderer
A French Court reportedly brought in a dog to identify its owner’s killer. The court wanted the dog to positively identify the man believed to have murdered the canine’s owner.
A relatively veteran 9 year old Labrador was called to the witness stand. The dog, named Tango, was supposed to be a part of a re-creation of events in which the alleged murderer first threatened the dog and later killed the owner. To keep the results fair and unbiased, another dog named Norman, of the same age and breed as Tango, was also brought in, reported RTL Radio.
Though unclear as yet, the court wanted to test the reaction of both the dogs and attempt to draw a conclusion as to whether the killer indeed threaten Tango. Norman was to serve as the ‘control group’, for comparing reactions. However, local newspaper The Local, reported the experiment as a complete failure both the dogs reacted very identically to the criminal threatening each of them with a bat.
The suspect’s lawyer though mocked the methods saying, “So if Tango lifted his right paw, moved his mouth or his tail, is he recognizing my client or not? I find it very troubling for the French legal system. If a judge ignores the demands of reason and surrounds himself with experts who are unreasonable, well the system becomes very dangerous.”
Bringing in bizarre witnesses or perpetrators, appear to have become the norm lately. In recent developments that The Inquisitr reported a nine month old baby being produced in front of court for attempting to murder security officers. However, in case of French Courts, bringing dogs is not uncommon.
Just last month a Dalmatian’s reactions were allegedly scrutinized in court in Paris by a certified veterinarian, in a murder case. The dog was shown faces of two murder suspects. Interestingly, the vet found the dog’s reaction sufficient to prove the theory that the suspects were the perpetrators. Essentially, the vet told the court that based on the dog’s reaction; it is highly likely the criminal duo could be responsible for the murder of the canine’s owner.
Though this may sound odd, the conclusions hinge on Ethology, which is the study of animal behavior. It dictates that animals and more so pets have memories that are strongly associated with their owners and re-creating the events or showing images can trigger strong reactions. Apparently the same did not happen in case of Tango, though the judge hasn’t announced his judgement pending further investigation.
[Image Credit | DogHeirs]
