Meet Dr Melinda Merck, Affiliate member of the One Health Committee
Dr Merck, former Co-chair of the WSAVA’s Animal Wellness and Welfare Committee and President of the NAVC from 2016-2017, is a forensic veterinarian consulting on legal cases involving animals. She is a global expert in this area.
Dr Melinda Merck
Could you explain the term ‘forensic veterinarian?’
It means doing work that applies veterinary medicine and science to legal cases, to answer questions in a legal arena.
What attracted you to this area of work?
I love to solve puzzles and mysteries! It’s a natural extension of what we do in veterinary medicine – solving mysteries with limited information, forming hypotheses, testing those and coming to reasonable conclusions.
What type of cases do you see most often?
When I was in practice it was neglect or, if physical trauma, it was related to interpersonal violence. I consult on a variety of cases but the most common type of cruelty is neglect.
Is there one case that you always remember where you made a difference?
It was a case involving a d client. The cat was kept strictly indoors and severely matted with maggots so I called investigators to report my neglect and concern about the potential environment. The investigator found that the family was not caring for the d client as they should have been. This led to the client receiving the care and monitoring she needed and the cat was brought in every six weeks for grooming. The family was not prosecuted but at least there was a positive outcome for both the client and the cat.
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Are you seeing an increase in cases of pet abuse?
During the pandemic we have seen an increase in domestic violence which includes the abuse of pets. We are also seeing more reporting of suspected abuse by the public and veterinarians which is likely due to heightened awareness of this issue.
If veterinarians could do one thing to help them identify potential cases of pet/human abuse, what should it be?
Educate yourself as to suspicious indicators – pay attention to red flags and do not be afraid to call local investigator to discuss, or a colleague to run it by them. You do not have to prove abuse before reporting suspected abuse!
You have a history with the WSAVA as Co-chair of the Animal Wellness and Welfare Committee and now with the One Health Committee. What do you enjoy being part of the WSAVA?
I love the commitment to reach the world with cutting-edge education and the creativity as to how to do that. That purpose and focus is exciting to be part of!
What do you hope you achieve through your partnership with the OHC?
From my area of expertise, the opportunity to bring stakeholders together with the veterinary community to develop programs for pets of domestic violence survivors – to provide them the tools for programs in their community.
Obviously, it’s been a challenging 18 months and you’ve had an ‘interesting’ pandemic! Could you explain briefly to WSAVA members what you did and what you’re doing now?
At the start of the pandemic, I realized that travel, conferences and courts would shut down and my consulting and teaching would decrease or change. I have been doing remote trainings and testimony when allowed. But I decided to try working at my local grocery store, initially part-time. Within five days I was an assistant manager for the cashiers.
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I then became assistant grocery manager and am now am training to become a pharmacy technician! They have been very accommodating of my schedule so I can continue to do my forensic work along with the stimulation of learning new things in the pharmacy world!
For mental health: I have an Oculus Quest virtual reality headset and love to do boxing or travel virtually around the world in Supernatural to do cardio workouts
Find out more about the whole OHC team
https://wsava.org/committees/one-health-committee/
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