Improved detection of human involvement in avian wildlife crime

Abstract

Estimated to be worth between $70 - $230 billion (USD) per annum worldwide, wildlife crime poses an increasing threat to global biodiversity and the delicate balance of ecosystems. At present, the availability of forensic evidence is a limiting factor for the successful prosecution of wildlife crime offences across the world. As one of the UK’s current wildlife crime priorities, raptor persecution includes the poisoning, shooting and trapping of birds of prey, as well as habitat destruction and disturbance of their nests. Presently for birds of prey, proof of poisoning and evidence of shooting are possible, but neither directly confirm any human involvement in the offence.

The original work, a world’s first, unique piece of research, by the author found green magnetic fluorescent fingerprint powder (GMFP) to be an effective technique for latent fingermark development on bird of prey feathers under controlled laboratory conditions. Building on this, colour perception was found to be a key influencer on fingermark gradings, with green being an easier colour on the human eye to visualise, creating sharper and clearer edges more than any other colour. Outdoor environmental conditions were found to accelerate the degradation of fingermarks as they age, with precipitation having the greatest impact on their successful development. This was particularly evident for natural fingermarks whose predominantly water-soluble composition left them more susceptible to outdoor exposure compared to sebaceous loaded fingermarks which were more robust. Fingermarks were also preserved for longer on feathers under hidden conditions, compared to those under visible conditions which were more likely to have had their barb structure compromised due to the meteorological conditions.

When compared against the chemical-based techniques of LumicyanoTM and VMD, GMFP outperformed both under indoor and outdoor conditions. GMFP also proved effective for latent fingermark development on the feathers of smaller birds such as pheasants which are commonly used as poisoned bait in raptor persecution, further increasing the potential for evidential recovery in such cases.

With predominantly Grade 1 fingermarks (touchmarks with no identifiable ridge detail) developed as the length of outdoor environmental exposure increases, preliminary attempts were made to maximise evidence recovery by bringing the forensic disciplines of fingerprints and DNA together. The areas of direct human contact identified by GMFP were used in initial attempts to recover DNA material via targeted swabbing with 50% of the positive samples considered suitable for DNA profiling.

This work has built upon the original novel work and shown it is possible to improve the detection of human involvement in avian wildlife persecution through latent fingermark development techniques and DNA recovery from feathers that have been exposed to the environment.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Abertay University
Supervisor	Keith Sturrock (Supervisor), Ben Jones (Supervisor) & Anne Savage (Supervisor)