Police Are Using Cat Hair To Catch Criminals

Though cats all share very similar DNA, this new approach, which is 10 times more accurate than older methods, has allowed scientists to be able to narrow the scope, and even use their data to identify cats years after they’ve passed away.

This breakthrough in sequencing cat DNA can be a total game changer in regard to solving cold cases where no human DNA is present. If investigators have a sample of cat hair, they could in theory trace the hair to a specific cat, which will lead them to the cat’s owner.

Co-author of the study, Professor Mark Jobling, is excited about his team’s findings because until recently cat DNA wasn’t a reliable source of evidence until this new method was established.