↑ London, UK Using a newly developed magnetic powder, Mark Moseley, a forensic investigator at London’s Metropolitan Police, dusts for and detects human fingerprints on an elephant tusk confiscated at Heathrow Airport.
Words and Images by Britta Jaschinski
Wildlife crime has become a global operation — fast, complex, and deeply profitable. From illegal ivory and rhino horn to trafficked pangolins and tiger parts, the trade is driven by transnational criminal networks.
These networks move quietly through supply chains, connecting poachers, middlemen, corrupt officials, and end consumers.
Despite growing international efforts to curb it, successful prosecutions remain rare. Law enforcement faces major challenges: limited financial resources, jurisdictional barriers, and, perhaps most critically, a lack of hard evidence. Now, a new generation of forensic science is changing that.
In the fight to protect endangered species, conservationists and forensic experts are turning to investigative techniques long associated with serious human crimes — homicide, sexual assault, and organized violence. The same tools that are used to solve murders and rapes are now being used to solve wildlife crimes.
The principle is simple: Every contact leaves a trace. And it’s on those traces — fingerprints, DNA, ballistic fragments, and biochemical residues — that investigators are beginning to build cases.
Wildlife forensics focuses on collecting and analyzing evidence from animals, their body parts, and the tools used to hunt or move them. Bones, shells, fur, traps, vehicles, and weapons can all tell a story. Ivory and rhino horn become not just contraband but crime scenes. A single fingerprint on a tusk can link a poacher to a larger network. A fragment of DNA in a vial of “medicinal wine” can reveal the presence of an endangered species. But collecting this kind of evidence isn’t straightforward.
Many wildlife materials have irregular surfaces — porous ivory, curved scales, fur, feathers — which makes lifting fingerprints extremely difficult. In hot or humid environments, traces degrade rapidly. Traditional forensic powders often fail to capture viable prints.
That changed with a breakthrough led by a forensic investigator at London’s Metropolitan Police working with researchers at King’s College London. Together, they researched known and untested forensic powders, resulting in a new magnetic fingerprint powder that can recover prints from wildlife items — including ivory — up to 28 days after contact. In some cases, even longer.
Over 200 fingerprinting kits based on this technology were distributed to border forces across 40 countries in Africa and Asia. The results were immediate.
In Kenya, evidence recovered using one kit led to 15 arrests, including five police officers, and the seizure of 11 elephant tusks. For the first time, ivory was not just proof of a crime; it was evidence of who committed it.
A white variant of the powder is now being used to recover prints from rhino horn, pangolin scales, and turtle shells. The powders are low-cost, field-deployable, and can be used in locations where DNA testing isn’t feasible.
DNA, meanwhile, remains the gold standard for wildlife identification. In forensic labs, genetic material from animal tissue, blood, or fur can be used to identify species, determine geographic origin, assess whether the animal was wild or captive, and even match individual parts, like tusks, to a specific carcass.
It’s now even possible to detect tiger DNA in traditional medicine and wine using a rapid multiplex quantitative PCR assay — a test that can identify multiple big cat species at once. This technology is crucial in prosecuting cases where wildlife products have been heavily processed or disguised.
Globally, there are only a dozen or so dedicated wildlife forensic labs across 10 countries, according to CITES (2022). These labs are working not only to solve individual cases but to build global databases of genetic and forensic information that can help trace trafficking routes and identify repeat offenders.
In the field, portable forensic devices are making these techniques more accessible. Multispectral imaging tools, adapted from crime scene investigation, can detect fingerprints, bodily fluids, and trace evidence on difficult surfaces like scales and shells. These handheld devices use UV, visible, and infrared light to reveal what would otherwise be invisible.
Researchers at the Zoological Society of London’s wildlife forensic lab have explored tailoring devices for use in remote, resource-limited environments. But the biggest barrier isn’t always the technology — it’s that wildlife crimes are often not treated as crimes at all.
Law enforcement officers may not recognize a poaching site as a crime scene. They may not know how to preserve forensic evidence or call in experts. As a result, crucial evidence is lost, and cases collapse before they even begin. This is where awareness becomes as important as innovation.
Wildlife forensics isn’t only about catching criminals — it’s about deterrence. Criminal syndicates often see wildlife trafficking as low risk and high reward. The likelihood of being caught is minimal, but when they are, conviction rates are low, and penalties are often light. But as forensic science improves, that equation could shift.
If poachers and traffickers know that a fingerprint can tie them to a seized tusk or that DNA in a bottle of wine can link them to a protected species, the perceived risk rises. Forensic evidence introduces accountability in a space that has long operated without it. And in doing so, it helps shift the status of wildlife crime from an environmental concern to a serious criminal offense.
The future of wildlife forensics isn’t just in better tools or faster lab results. It’s in integrating these tools into enforcement systems, training officers to recognize their value, and creating a culture where wildlife crime scenes are treated with the seriousness they deserve.
Behind every illegal tusk, scale, tooth, or claw is an animal that should still be alive. And now, the invisible traces left behind can help ensure that someone is held responsible.
See more of Britta Jaschinski’s work, at www.brittaphotography.com.
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