Wildlife forensic science

Wildlife forensic science is forensic science applied to legal issues involving wildlife.[1]

Laboratories and organizations

With the initiative of the Society for Wildlife Forensic Science (SWFS), the Scientific Working Group for Wildlife Forensic Sciences (SWGWILD) was formed in 2011.[2]

Scope

While animals and plants are the victims in the crimes of illegal wildlife trade and animal abuse, society also pays a heavy price when those crimes are used to fund illegal drugs, weapons and terrorism. Links between human trafficking, public corruption and illegal fishing have also been reported.[3] The continued development and integration of wildlife forensic science as a field will be critical for successful management of the many significant social and conservation issues related to the illegal wildlife trade and wildlife law enforcement.

See also

• Marine forensics

References

1. "Wildlife Forensics Laboratory". Law enforcement division. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
2. "About SWGWILD". Society for Wildlife Forensic Science. 14 January 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
3. US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 2009. Trafficking and extortion of Burmese migrants in Malaysia and Southern Thailand: a report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate. Washington, DC

• Tobe, Shanan S.; Linacre, A. (13 December 2007). "A multiplex assay to identify 18 European mammal species from mixtures using the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene". Electrophoresis. 29 (2): 340–347. doi:10.1002/elps.200700706. PMID 18080254.
• Linacre, A.; Tobe, Shanan S. (13 January 2011). "An overview to the investigative approach to species testing in wildlife forensic science". Investigative Genetics. 2 (2): 2. doi:10.1186/2041-2223-2-2. PMC 3032691. PMID 21232099.
• Tobe, Shanan S.; Linacre, A. (September 2010). "DNA typing in wildlife crime: recent developments in species identification". Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology. 6 (3): 195–206. doi:10.1007/s12024-010-9168-7.
• Alacs, E. A.; Georges, A.; FitzSimmons, N. N.; Robertson, J. (16 December 2009). "DNA detective: a review of molecular approaches to wildlife forensics". Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology. 6 (3): 180–194. doi:10.1007/s12024-009-9131-7. PMID 20013321.
• Espinoza, Edgard O., and Mary-Jacque Mann. 2000. Identification Guide for Ivory and Ivory Substitutes, 3rd edition. Ivory Identification Incorporated, Richmond, VA
• Ogden, Rob (2008). "Fisheries forensics: the use of DNA tools for improving compliance, traceability and enforcement in the fishing industry". Fish and Fisheries. 9 (4): 462–472. doi:10.1111/j.1467-2979.2008.00305.x.
• Ogden, Rob; Nick Dawnay; Ross McEwing (2009). "Wildlife DNA forensics – bridging the gap between conservation genetics and law enforcement". Endangered Species Research. 9: 179–195. doi:10.3354/esr00144.
• Trail, Pepper W. (18 September 2006). "Avian Mortality at Oil Pits in the United States: A Review of the Problem and Efforts for Its Solution". Environmental Management. 38 (4): 532–544. doi:10.1007/s00267-005-0201-7.
• U.S. Department of State (8 November 2007). "The coalition against wildlife trafficking: working together to end the illegal trade in wildlife" (PDF). Retrieved 17 May 2014.
• Warchol, A. (2004). "The transnational illegal wildlife trade". Criminal Justice Studies. s. 17: 57–73. doi:10.1080/08884310420001679334.
• Yates, Bonnie C.; Espinoza, Edgard O.; Baker, Barry W. (13 June 2010). "Forensic species identification of elephant (Elephantidae) and giraffe (Giraffidae) tail hair using light microscopy". Forensic Science, Medicine, and Pathology. 6 (3): 165–171. doi:10.1007/s12024-010-9169-6.
• Zimmerman, M. (2003). "The black market for wildlife: combating transnational organized crime in the illegal wildlife trade". Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law. 36: 1657–1689.

Further reading

• Baker, Barry (1 November 2008). "A brief overview of forensic herpetology". Applied Herpetology. 5 (4): 307–318. doi:10.1163/157075408786532048.
• Cooper, John E. Cooper, Margaret E. (2007). Introduction to veterinary and comparative forensic medicine ([Online-Ausg.]. ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Pub. ISBN 9780470752944.
• Linacre, Adrian. Tobe, Shanan S. (2013). Wildlife DNA Analysis: Applications in Forensic Science. Oxford, UK: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470665954.
• Wallace, edited by Jane E. Huffman, John R. (2012). Wildlife forensics methods and applications. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781119953142.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
• Leakey, Laurel A. Neme ; foreword by Richard (2009). Animal investigators : how the world's first wildlife forensics lab is solving crimes and saving endangered species (1st Scribner hardcover ed.). New York: Scribner. ISBN 978-1416550563.
• Welch, Craig (2010). Shell games rogues, smugglers, and the hunt for nature's bounty (1st ed.). New York: William Morrow. ISBN 978-0061987984.

External links

• INTERPOL Wildlife Crime Working Group
• National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory
• NOAA Marine Forensics Laboratory
• Society for Wildlife Forensic Science (SWFS)
• Article on SWGWILD (the Scientific Working Group for Wildlife Forensics)
• Italian National Reference Centre for Veterinary Forensic Medicine (CeMedForVet)