The REAL pet detective files

DOGS BACKED TO HELP COPS BUT THEY'RE NOT FIRST ANIMALS TO DO SO 

CANINE crime busters could help to deliver ruff justice, as we reported earlier this week.

Forensic science researchers reckon DNA samples from dogs could make pups a witness to a crime scene and help convict criminals.

But critters have already become real pet detectives, as NADINE LINGE reveals....

PET BIRDS 

A cockatoo called Larry gave vital evidence in a murder trial after catching his owner's killers' DNA. In 2002, Texas man Kevin Butler was stabbed by two men. During the trial, DNA scrapings from Larry's beak helped lead to the murderers' convictions.

In 2017, Glenna Duram was convicted of murdering her husband Martin after the pair's African grey parrot Bud repeated the victim's last words in his voice: "Don't f***ing shoot!" Duram, from Michigan in the US, was jailed for life.

Heera the parrot witnessed her owner Neela's murder by Ashutosh Goswami in India in 2014. With no signs of forced entry, her widower Vijay realised the bird could know the attacker. After Vijay read out a list of names, the parrot squawked "he's the killer, he's the killer" when it heard Goswami's name, leading the murderer to confess to the police.

In 2021, a bird called Charlie alerted owner Emma Dazeley to a break-in by squawking. Jake Fletcher, of Newport, south Wales, pleaded guilty to the burglaries and was jailed for two years.

DOGS