DNA in Wildlife Investigations
by Dr. Hsien-Hsien Lei
Posted August 9, 2007 in DNA and the Law
There seems to be no end of possibilities for using DNA in everyday life. If you’re an animal lover, you may have heard of dog owners using DNA to figure out their pets’ breed. And then there’s the use of DNA to ID dogs that attack innocent bystanders.
In Idaho, wildlife DNA specialist Dr. Karen Rudolph uses tissue, hair, bone chip, or blood splatters to link poachers to the kill site. A suspect in one case cleaned and boiled his knife thinking that he’d destroyed all the evidence. But Dr. Rudolph still managed to retrieve a tiny speck of dried blood from the hinge of the folding knife. Enough to convict.
Another case involved attempted wolf poisoning. Tim Sundles made pesticide-laced meatballs that killed more than 20 pet dogs. DNA from the meatballs matched DNA from the blood found in his garage. DNA from human cells found in urine at the crime scene also matched Sundles’s DNA. He pled guilty.
NB: If you’re interested in hunting and fishing the legal way, visit my friend Steve Remington’s Skinny Moose Media network .
Tags: poaching, genetics, genes, dna, animals, dogs, wildlife, hunting
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