  A leading candidate for astrophysical dark matter (DM) is a massive particle
with a mass in the range from 50 GeV to greater than 10 TeV and an interaction
cross section on the weak scale. The self-annihilation of such particles in
astrophysical regions of high DM density can generate stable secondary
particles including very high energy gamma-rays with energies up to the DM
particle mass. Dwarf spheroidal galaxies of the Local Group are attractive
targets to search for the annihilation signature of DM due to their proximity
and large DM content. We report on gamma-ray observations taken with the Very
Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) of several dwarf
galaxy targets as well as the globular cluster M5 and the local group galaxies
M32 and M33. We discuss the implications of these measurements for the
parameter space of DM particle models.
