Citation

Gudmannsson P, Berge J, Druid H, Ericsson G, Eriksson A. J. Forensic Sci. 2018; 63(2): 622-625.

Affiliation

Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Section of Forensic Medicine, Umeå University, 901 87, Umeå, Sweden.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13579

PMID

28631272

Abstract

Fatalities caused by animal attacks are rare, but have the potential to mimic homicide. We present a case in which a moose attacked and killed a woman who was walking her dog in a forest. Autopsy showed widespread blunt trauma with a large laceration on one leg in which blades of grass were embedded. Flail chest was the cause of death. The case was initially conceived as homicide by means of a riding lawn mower. A review of the case by moose experts and analyses of biological trace material that proved to originate from moose, established the true source of injury. The dog probably provoked a moose, which, in response, stomped and gored the victim to death. The injuries resembled those previously reported from attacks by cattle and water buffalo. Fatal moose attacks constitute an extremely rare threat in boreal areas, but can be considered in traumatic deaths of unknown cause.

© 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

animal attack; forensic pathology; forensic science; moose; traumatic death