Dr.
Barlia is a forensic and Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist (CAAB). He provides the
legal profession critical science-based animal behavior information.
Experience
and services:
1)
Perform scientific evaluation of dangerous dogs, cats,
horses and other animals.
horses and other animals.
2)
Analysis of the causes and dynamics of aggression in
animals, in particular dog and cat bites.
animals, in particular dog and cat bites.
3) Wound analysis as a result of a bite.
4)
Reconstruction of the event that led to animal-caused
injuries through examination of:
injuries through examination of:
a) medical records and photographs of the
injuries.
b) social and environmental circumstances at the time of
the incident.
c) characteristics of the animal– if still alive.
d) testimony from witnesses, veterinarian, animal owners,
animal control
officers and victims.
5)
Animal cruelty and abuse addressing the damaging
effects to the animal caused by human design such as
inappropriate housing, physical abuse, starvation, and
general deprivation.
effects to the animal caused by human design such as
inappropriate housing, physical abuse, starvation, and
general deprivation.
.
6) Assist attorneys and the court arrive at a logical synthesis
of
scientific and legal definitions of what constitutes
negligence,
provocation, annoyance, harassment and
viciousness as it applies to
the particulars of a case.
7)
Help attorneys formulate relevant questions to be asked of
witnesses
aimed at providing critical information for the
resolution of both
civic and criminal cases.
Dr.
Barlia will also provide the attorneys and courts with not only his professional
opinion based on the data analyzed but will assess both the
scientific weaknesses and strengths of such opinion as well as
provide assessment of the opinions of the opposing animal behavior
experts, their weaknesses and strengths. This will help the legal
professional develop a sound approach to the case at hand.
All of Dr. Barlia’s opinions are referenced and based on scientific fact and contemporary theories of animal behavior and human-animal behavior interactions.
All of Dr. Barlia’s opinions are referenced and based on scientific fact and contemporary theories of animal behavior and human-animal behavior interactions.
Phone Number: 810-338-9232
Email: elibarliaphd@gmail.com
Information about Dr. Barlia and His Practice:
As
an academically trained Comparative/Physiological Psychologist and
Ethologist (behavioral biologist), Dr. Barlia has dedicated himself
to the treatment of behavioral abnormalities in domestic animals
since 1980. He has treated thousands of cases of serious animal behavior problems. He specializes in the study of aggression and treats the
causes and dynamics of dog and cat bites as well as kicking and
biting in horses.
Dr.
Barlia’s work has led him to serve as an expert witness relating to animal behavior in
courts of law since 1986. His opinions are based on the most
stringent application of scientific principles of behavior and
methodology and renders clear and valid assessments of dog bites, cat
bites, animal abuse, animal husbandry/care and accidents involving
horses. All his opinions are substantiated and referenced.
He
helped pioneer the nascent field of Applied Animal Behavior and was
instrumental in establishing a certification program through the
Animal Behavior Society (ABS), a professional organization dedicated
to the scientific study of animal behavior; its members now known as
Certified Applied Animal Behaviorists (CAAB). He has been a member of
the Animal Behavior Society since his graduate student days in the
early ‘70’s.
Dr.
Barlia has also served as adjunct professor in the Psychology
Department at Wayne State University (1977- 1996) where he was
engaged in teaching courses in Ethology, Behavioral and Cognitive
Psychotherapy, Learning, Comparative Psychology and Animal Behavior.
He established the Animal Behavior Institute in Metamora, Michigan
(1989-2005) on a 40 acre facility conducting behavioral research on
aggression in dogs, testing laboratory results under field conditions
and developing appropriate therapeutic procedures in behavior
modification and teaching interns advanced courses in Applied Animal
Behavior.
Role
of the expert:
Upon
contacting Dr. Barlia, he will ask for a synopsis of the case as the
person knows it; whether relevant people such as witnesses,
veterinarians, victim, animal control officers and medical
professionals who attended to the victim have been deposed or
interviewed. He will, at that point, try to help and guide the caller
with the general field in which the issues lie from a scientific
perspective and elucidate on whether he can help or not and why. He
will also make it very clear to the caller that all his opinions will
be based on the data and facts as he sees them with the eye of a
scientist, not as someone else would like them to be seen.
He
will also ask the caller if the animal in question is still alive and
available for his examination, a very important part of the process
for assessing whether we are dealing with a dangerous and vicious
animal or with an animal that must be provoked. In other words: DO
NOT DESTROY THE EVIDENCE!
If
the animal is still alive, Dr. Barlia will implement scientific observational/naturalistic methods and psychological tests of
emotionality, attention and learning in order to assess the
temperament of the animal in question. In case the animal has been
euthanized before these procedures can be implemented, the owner of
the animal, the veterinarian with behavioral history of the animal,
trainers and obedience schools where the animal was enrolled in the
past, possibly neighbors and anyone deemed to be familiar with the
animal should be interviewed by him.
Furthermore,
once Dr. Barlia is retained by the caller, he will request all the
relevant testimonies, depositions, and interviews conducted to date
from the above referenced individuals and institutions and may
suggest who else, in his opinion, should be interviewed or deposed as
the case progresses. The information gathered from these documents
will be used by him to determine the most likely physiological and
emotional states of the animal at the time of the incident
(motivational state), social and environmental factors at the time of
the incident, history of social interactions of the animal and human
factors at the time of the incident, in particular those that may
have elicited the aggressive response. In conclusion, this process
will produce the core data from which his expert opinions will be
deduced.
