Is Your Cat a Crime Fighter?

Whether you love them or hate them, cats are getting some good publicity, as a new study on cat DNA is released.  The study suggests that cat fur can help catch criminals.

“Cat fur obtained from a crime scene has the potential to link perpetrators, accomplices, witnesses and victims,” Robert Grahn, lead author of the study published in the Forensic Science International: Genetics, told Discovery News.

Researchers say anyone who enters a house where a cat resides leaves with one or more cat hairs stuck to his or her body, clothing, bags, and/or shoes.  If the criminal is later detained for questioning, the cat fur might still be on them and then taken for testing.

You see, any type of organism can be identified by examination of DNA sequences unique to that species.  Cats are no different. 

“Because cats incessantly groom, cat fur may have nucleated cells, not only in the hair bulb, but also as epithelial cells on the hair shaft deposited during the grooming process, thereby generally providing material for DNA profiling,” researcher Dr. Leslie Lyons said.

Fur from a fluffy, white house cat has already been used in a murder trial.  The accused, Douglas Beamish of Canada, had cat fur stuck to one of his pockets in a discarded jacket.  The fur was genetically linked to victim Shirley Duguay’s cat, Snowball.  The evidence helped to convict Beamish of second-degree murder, leaving him with a 15-year prison sentence.