Hyderabad:
Nailing poachers is not easy, but modern biology is helping wildlife wardens track down criminals. The DNA of each animal is specific and unique. This genetic fingerprint can also help pin down criminals engaged in poaching wild animals.
India lost about 40 tigers this year alone, mostly due to poaching. 11 Indian rhinos were poached in 2012. Almost four leopards are poached every week, suggests a new study, which points that almost 2,300 leopards were lost in the last ten years.
India's only Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LACONES) in Hyderabad does a lot of forensic work related to animal poaching. It helps positively identify the poached animal, since - like in the case of deer, where meat is used in cooking - the sample visually may not suggest if it is mutton or a wild animal, but the laboratory can run specific DNA tests that reveal the genetic finger print, helping nail down criminals involved in poaching.
Likewise it is in the case of ivory poaching. Usually, one does not know whether a seized article is made using Asian ivory or African elephant ivory. Poachers try to get away by saying the specimen is of African ivory and seek lower punishment. But DNA signatures can tell the difference.
Similar problem arises in the case of a rhino horn. LACONES was sent a horn which seemed to be from an African rhino, but was seized in India and it came to the laboratory for analysis. Positive identification at this unique laboratory, and they could tell that it was the horn of an African rhino.
Leopard poaching is a big menace. A leopard was killed somewhere and its seized skin came to this laboratory for identification to determine whether it is a male or a female leopard. All of this helps in the final nailing down of the criminal.
But criminals, at times, cheat others who are also involved in this illegal wildlife trade . In an interesting case, the forensics wing of LACONES was sent, what seemed like the skin of a tiger. On the face of it, the skin looked like a real tiger's. But, it turned out be the skin of another animal. It was a dog skin which had been carefully painted to appear like a tiger skin. At LACONES, they were able to conduct DNA identification and figure out that it was not a tiger skin. In this unique case, cheats were duping people and trying to make money off them. So, it turned out be a case of forgery. The person who committed this crime also probably went to jail - not for poaching or under wildlife protection laws but for forgery. So, DNA is being used to help mankind by not just resurrecting dead animals through cloning, but also helping in their conservation by nailing criminals involved in wildlife poaching.