Dear All,
On The 7:30 Report this evening, there was a very interesting item on
a strategy to obtain the DNA profile of as many species of WA wildlife
as possible as a means to differentiate between wild and captive bred
species, as a means to combat wildlife smuggling. The technique is
being further refined so as to be able to give the location from where
the animals came from.
The strategy was originally started as part of an initiative to
prevent illegal capture and smuggling of Carnaby's Black-Cockatoo. The
profiling has been extended to mammals and reptiles. For reptiles they
have developed a mouth swab technique. I wonder if they drew straws to
take the swabs from the likes of Dugites or King Browns.
The major part of the item was to do with the Canaby's and the
problems with nest robbing, which is a real problem due to the high
prices Carnabys bring in the exotic bird trade OS. This highlights the
importance of not giving the location of nesting birds on B-Aus and
other birding sites succh as Bird_o and the various birdlines, as you
can be pretty sure that smugglers watch those sites. The WA wildlife
people on the program strongly made the point that wildlife smugglers
have become very sophisticated and frequently associated with
organised crime.
On the bright side, every prosecution that the WA wildlife authorities
have mounted, based on DNA evidence has been successful, with the
offenders invariably putting their hands up when they discover that
the prosecution was DNA based.
Perhaps we should paraphrase the old war time slogan to "Loose lips
sink species.
Cheers,
Carl Clifford
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