The National Fish
and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory was established in 1989
as the first full service crime laboratory in the world devoted
to wildlife law enforcement. As such, the mission of the lab
was to provide forensic support to the wildlife law enforcement
efforts of special agents, game wardens and conservation officers
throughout the United States and in the 140 some countries
that had signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). Much of the international work would be conducted
through the Wildlife Subgroup of Interpol.
To accomplish this mission, a lab director was selected; a
modern 23,000 square foot laboratory facility was designed
and constructed; twelve scientists, technicians and support
staff were hired; and the lab was equipped with $1,000,000
worth of what was then, state of the art analytical instrumentation.
Queries of the lab's user groups were conducted, priorities
were established, and basic evidence handling protocols were
put into place.
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The work of
the lab had begun. As a new field of forensic science, wildlife
forensics had three basic goals.
1. T o identify the species source of wildlife
parts and products submitted as evidence.
2. To link suspect, victim and crime scene
with physical evidence.
3. To determine cause of death.
Fifteen years later, the mission and goals
of the lab remain unchanged, but the laboratory is now a very
different and much more interesting place. It will be even
more interesting when the expansion of the lab facility is
completed, sometime in 2009. So what has changed during these
fifteen years? Let's take a look.
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