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The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has three forensic veterinarians on staff dedicated to capturing evidence to punish animal abusers.

The New York-based vets have testified in some of the first animal cruelty cases to use DNA at trial to obtain felony convictions.

A traveling ASPCA crew in January rescued some 600 animals from a no-kill shelter in North Carolina suspected of abuse and neglect.

The leader of the team, Dr. Robert Reisman, says his work in this field has shown there is often a connection between animal abuse and human violence. In many cases, when there's a human domestic violence victim, there's also an animal victim at the same time.