Spain. This individual died after ingesting poison. The injuries were inflicted postmortem by a dog. No further info.
Postmortem animal depredation is a substantial part of the taphonomic processes a body undergoes after death. While the occurrence and presentation of such injuries are well known to forensic pathologists, the morphological appearance of these injuries may be misinterpreted by police officers or members of other investigating authorities.
Fig.1 Postmortem animal depredation after poisoning.
In cases with postmortem animal predation, the psychological state of the animal is a possible reason for its behavior. One possible explanation for such behavior is that a pet will try to help an unconscious owner first by licking or nudging, but when this fails to produce any results the behavior of the animal can become more frantic and in a state of panic can lead to biting. The motive is not to attack the owner but is a kind of ‘‘displacement’’ behavior motivated by confusion and fear. The fact that the efforts of the animal will obviously be fruitless explains why this can easily escalate and culminate in excessive mutilation.
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