The study encourages collaboration between wildlife forensic geneticists and conservation and research-focused biobanks.

Samples shared through wildlife conservation-focused biobanks could help to fight wildlife crime. 

A review study has found that the fight against wildlife crime could be accelerated by the sharing of samples through wildlife conservation-focused biobanks.

Published in the journal Forensic Science International: Animals and Environments, the study aims to highlight the importance conservation and research focused biobanks as a way of obtaining reference samples for wildlife DNA forensics.

The research found that biobanks focused on conservation could improve access to research samples, for things such as rare, endangered, or remote species.

The study then proposes that the samples from these biobanks can then be used to develop genetic tools which will help identify the species and geographical location of samples collected during a wildlife forensics crime scene investigation.

Researchers say that wildlife crime is one of the key drivers for disease spread from animals to humans through the illegal wildlife trade, and the study proposes that law enforcement for combatting wildlife crime could be accelerated by using the samples from the biobanks, combined with an increasing sharing of DNA data – which could facilitate efforts by wildlife forensic geneticists to provide the necessary robust evidence to courts.

A report by The Roslin Institute is available to read here, and the study is open access and available to read at sciencedirect.com 

Image © Shutterstock/Microgen