In the growing technological advancement and industrial applications, the exploitation of resources may be natural or man-made is growing on at a high pace. The most affected being the natural resources, primarily the ecosystem and biodiversity. The crime against wildlife is increasing far beyond the nutritional as well as any kind of ritualistic pleasure or needs of the communities living in the forest areas. It has now been shifted more towards the greed and the in-descent lives of us, the people of remote areas around the globe, who are just thinking about the desire fulfillments forgetting everything else. As found by WCT, wildlife crime comes as the fourth largest organized crime occurring throughout the world.
WHAT IS WILDLIFE FORENSICS?
Wildlife forensics basically aims at tackling the illegal trade of wildlife and also to look into the investigation and the identification of the perpetrators, enabling the number of wildlife crimes to be lowered down and also identifying the wildlife product that is being used in trade. The various techniques used as a method of identification[1] of the species traded includes, DNA typing of the specimen found on the scene of occurrence , fingerprint identification found on the crime scene, furs, fibers and hair examination on the scene of occurrence, the examination of the vehicle, tyres and the instrumentations used so as to commit the crime, forensic palynological techniques, analysis of the questioned documents , digital forensics , analysis of the firearm being used in order to commit the crime, morphological analysis, radiological analysis of the victim.
BASIC CONSIDERATIONS TO BE NOTED WHILE INVESTIGATION
The use of the techniques as mentioned above is the need of the hour so as to enable a speedy investigation and to solve the challenges as faced during the investigation of wildlife crimes.The most basic considerations to be made while investigating a wildlife crime scene (CITES) is to find an answer to the questions that follow:
1.The specie[7] that is being involved
2.The geographical background of the specimen received
3.The captive source of the specimen
4.The age of the specimen
If a case of suspective captive breeding is suspected, DNA analysis of the parent-offspring could be done, acting as a support to the investigation of the illegal trade going on of the caught wildlife animals. In cases involving poaching , radiocarbon dating of the sample should be done, so as to rule out the possibility of any antique claimed specimen as said by the perpetrator.
TECHNIQUES USED IN WILDLIFE FORENSICS
Wildlife forensics involves the use of a combination of analytical methods as well the biological analysis of the evidences so as to reach a conclusion in the court of law. though the field is advancing day by day but still the considerations of the techniques used is a matter of fact that depends on the will of the investigating authorities to be admissible or not in the court of law.
i.Visual identification
The most simplest method while considering investigation is to identify the physical features of the specie based on their taxa of origin. The basic problems lies is the admissibility of the technique in the court of law. Along with the applicability comes under question in the countries having poorly developed historical taxa identification. the morphological examination is sufficient to identify hippopotamus, walrus , sperm whale , an elephant ivory butĀ as mentioned earlier the limitation comes while examination of Asian and African elephants. RBPB[2] solved an enquiry on the morphological analysis of seized eagle skull and the Philippine eagle specimen; having a suspicion on the dealer having smuggled illegally fresh skull of Philippine eagle ,which was found to be trueĀ on the basis of the morphological analysis.
ii.Genetic identification
the ability for the species to be characterized on the basis of the biological evidences as well their genetic differences[6] , proves of significant help. Taxon origin could be checked with the help of DNA barcoding as well as implementing the use of DNA typing. The results for the same enable us to determine the parent-offspring relation, their geographical origin and the identification is done on the basis of the records available pre handedly.
DNA ANALYSIS AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION
DNA analysis while considering wildlife forensics has a different plan of action. As in human DNA analysis the main focus lies in linking the suspect to the crime whereas here at the first the focus lies on proving the commission of the crime, with the identification of the plant or animal specie that was involved. DNA samples could be collected from various evidence types namely, feathers , bones, blood , saliva etc.
a)SPECIMEN IDENTIFICATION: The most basic implementation of the non human DNA evidence analysis, is the determination of its analysis. Investigation done by Czech republic CITES enforcement authority , was to check whether the claimed rhino trophy was real. The investigation began, DNA typing was done. The results found that were of conclusion that the trophy claimed to a rhinoceros horn trophy was actually a cow horn, making it conclusive that the horn was no longer in possession of the hunter and would had been traded illegally.
b)PARENTAGE IDENTIFICATION: The next question to be taken into consideration includes, the nature of the captivity of the specimen, āWas is laundered illegally?ā DNA analysis of the birds captive under suspicion is done so as to know about their parentage. The type of testing method used is generally specie specific analysis. UK wildlife investigation (1990) used DNA analysis in order to confirm for the growing number of the disappearing wildlife peregrines and goshawks. That resulted in successful interrogation from the suspects leading to their imprisonment.
c)INDIVIDUAL IDENTIFICATION: DNA analysis is used for the validation of individual identity but it is limited applicability due to the limited presence of the data available.
d)GENDER IDENTIFICATION AND ITS AREA OF ORIGIN : DNA analysis can also be used in identifying the gender of the specimen , so as to aid identification as in the caseĀ involving poaching, it is observed that specific sexes are poached at specific seasons of the year. DNA testing also enables to identify the number of individuals involved based on the physical evidences encountered on the scene. ivory , fish and timber are some of the smuggled species that could be tested for their origin[3]. RSPCA special operations investigation unit while investigating a suspected cock arena ,claimed to only be a dog bed, found fifteen areas having blood splatter , which when tested were found positive for cockerels and hens . the suspects were pleaded guilty based on the evidence for charges relative to cock fighting.
iii.Chemical identification
The uniqueness of the biological samples having a variety of chemical constituents is used for identification in wildlife forensics[4]. The study could be divided into the identification on the basis of their biochemical constituent analysis, as well as their isotope ratio analysis with the help of mass spectrometry. The result obtained as known would give a characteristic graph enabling identification. The other implementation of knowing about the chemical profile of the victim is to know its geographical origin as so as to know the illicit trade.
Radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating relies on the measurement of the change in radioactive isotope C-14 with the passage of time in the organic samples[5] to be tested.the use of the technique provides a compelling evidence about the age of the plant and the animal specimen under question.
| TECHNIQUES USED | AID IN TAXONOMIC IDENTIFICATION | AID IN THE GEOGRAPHICAL
IDENTIFICATION |
AID IN WILD SOURCE IDENTIFICATION | AID TO FIND INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY | AID IN KNOWING THE CLUE ABOUT THE AGE |
| VISUAL IDENTIFICATION | Yes | Sometimes possible (most not) | Sometimes possible(mostly not) | no | Could be possible (but mostly not) |
| ANALYSIS THROUGH DNA | Yes | Sometimes possible(mostly not) | Could be possible (but only in controlled environment) | Could be possible (in controlled environment) | No |
| CHEMICAL IDENTIFICATION | Sometimes possible(mostly not) | Could be possible in controlled environment | Could be possible (in controlled environment) | No | No |
| RADIOCARBON DATING TECHNIQUE | No | No | No | No |
REFERENCES
1. Home – Wildlife Conservation Trust. (2020). Retrieved 20 June 2020, from https://www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org/
2. OGDEN, R., & MAILLEY, J. (2020). A REVIEW OF WILDLIFE FORENSIC SCIENCE AND LABORATORY CAPACITY TO SUPPORT IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF CITES. Retrieved 21 June 2020, from https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/17/WorkingDocs/E-CoP17-25-A4.pdf
3. WALKER, D., & ADREIN, W. (2020). Wildlife Forensic Investigation Principles and Practice. Retrieved 20 June 2020, from https://www.jwildlifedis.org/doi/full/10.7589/50-1-BR1
4. KUMAR, N., YADAV, V., & YADAV, A. (2020). WILDLIFE FORENSIC : CURRENT TECHNIQUES AND THEIR LIMITATIONS. Retrieved 21 June 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319136233_’Wildlife_Forensic_Current_Techniques_and_their_limitations’_has_been_accepted_for_publication
5. TRAFFIC | Wildlife forensics. (2020). Retrieved 21 June 2020, from https://www.traffic.org/what-we-do/projects-and-approaches/wildlife-conservation-technology/wildlife-forensics/
6. BUNK, S. (2020). Forensics Fights Crimes Against Wildlife. Retrieved 20 June 2020, from https://www.the-scientist.com/research/forensics-fights-crimes-against-wildlife-56064
7. What is CITES? | CITES. (2020). Retrieved 21 June 2020, from https://cites.org/eng/disc/what.php
Author
Isha Chauhan
Intern at the Department of Forensic Science & Criminal Investigation,
Legal Desire & Insights
