• Wildlife forensics is concerned with crimes against animals and fish.white gees image by David Sexton from Fotolia.com
  
  Professionals who work in the wildlife forensics field are responsible for investigating cases that involve crimes against fish and wildlife. These crimes can include poaching and killing endangered species. In some ways, the work that wildlife forensic investigators perform is similar to forensic scientists who work with human victims. In both kinds of investigations, evidence is collected, documented, analyzed and explained to a jury.
  
  

Working at Crime Scenes

• Much like the crime scene investigators who work on cases that involve human victims, those who work in the wildlife forensic field visit the scenes of crimes that has been committed against animals. The work that these professionals perform includes finding, documenting, collecting and securing the evidence that they find at these scenes.
  
  

Examining Evidence

• After the evidence has been collected from a crime scene, forensic wildlife professionals examine it to determine how the crime was committed---or even if a crime was committed. In some cases, the death of an animal is not a crime at all but was part of the course of nature when the death was caused by another animal. If the cause of death is determined to be the result of something other than nature running its course, evidence is further examined to find out more details about the crime.
  
  Forensic scientists who work with crimes against fish and wildlife examine three kinds of evidence: biological, physical and chemical. Biological evidence is anything that was once part of an animal or fish, such as fur, bones, teeth, fins or claws. Physical evidence that is taken from a wildlife forensics crime scene is much like the physical evidence in crimes against humans, such as footprints, fibers or toolmarks. The chemical evidence that is found at these crime scenes includes poisons, drugs or gunshot residue.
  
  

Identifying Animal Species

• Wildlife forensic scientists must determine what species of animal has been the victim of a crime. This can be done by dissecting the body of the animal or conducting a biochemical analysis. In addition, animal species are determined by conducting a morphological study, which analyzes evidence including legs, bones, tails, hairs and feathers. This is done by comparing the evidence found at crime scenes to the samples that are kept in the lab or published reference materials.
  
  

Reporting Findings

• Like other forensic scientists, professionals in the wildlife forensics field are called to testify about their findings in court. They must have good communication skills in order to explain their work to laypeople. In addition, they are bound by their professional ethics to remain impartial when they work on cases.