Citation

Uvíra M, Marecová K, Dokoupil M, Dvořáček I, Handlos P. Forensic Sci. Med. Pathol. 2019; 15(1): 93-96.

Affiliation

Department of Intensive Medicine and Forensic Studies, Faculty of Medicine, Ostrava University, CZ-703 00, Ostrava, Czech Republic. petr.handlos@seznam.cz.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s12024-018-0048-x

PMID

30478732

Abstract

Animal inflicted fatal or near fatal injuries are well described in the forensic literature, with the most frequently described cases involving dogs, large cats and bears. To our knowledge, a deer inflicted fatality has not been described in the forensic literature previously. This article reports a case of a 64-year-old male, who was found lying in a pool of blood near an enclosure for stags and hinds at the end of October. There were mechanical defects on his jacket and trousers, which appeared to be torn or penetrated, as well as multiple lacerations and stab wounds in different parts of his body. The type and location of the injuries the man had sustained strongly suggested that another person had been involved in the incident that had led to his death. The cause of death was deemed as external exsanguination due to multiple stab wounds to large vessels. After evaluating all of the information regarding the circumstances around the death, the case was classified as a deer attack related fatality, and the manner of death was determined to be accidental. The man was most probably attacked by one of the deer while he was refilling the animal feeder. A substantial increase in the levels of selected hormones, especially testosterone, during the rutting season explains the increased levels of aggression shown by the deer that led to a fatal outcome for the decedent.

Language: en

Keywords

Deer; Fatal attack; Lacerated wounds; Rutting season; Stab wounds