TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network
Definition
A UK-based NGO providing forensic identification services, training, and research for wildlife crime cases across Europe and beyond, founded in 2002.
- Founded
- 2002
- Base
- United Kingdom
- Structure
- Non-governmental organisation
- Services
- Identification, training, research
- Geographic reach
- Europe and beyond
Common questions
What role does training play in TRACE's work beyond direct casework?+
Training builds forensic capacity in countries and agencies that lack in-house wildlife forensic expertise, extending the network's impact to cases it never directly analyzes itself.
Why was a dedicated wildlife forensics NGO needed rather than relying on general forensic laboratories?+
Wildlife cases require species-specific reference databases and taxonomic expertise that general human-forensic laboratories typically do not maintain, so a specialist network fills that gap.
Related terms
- INTERPOL Project Wisdom
- INTERPOL's dedicated operational programme targeting environmental and wildlife crime, coordinating intelligence and joint operations across its 190-plus member countries.
- Species Identification
- The determination that a seized specimen or product came from a particular species, genus, or family, using morphology, DNA barcoding, protein analysis,...
- US NFWFL
- The National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, established in 1989 by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The world's...
- WCCB
- Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. Statutory multi-disciplinary body under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), created by the 2006 amendment...
- Wildlife Forensics
- The application of forensic science methods to the investigation of crimes involving animals, plants, and their derivatives, including species identification, geographic origin,...