Across the world, wildlife crimes – including animal trafficking and poaching – are on the rise and are a major threat to the planet’s biodiversity. Often, he says, wildlife crimes happen in remote areas without witnesses and first responders can accidentally disrupt the scene and contaminate evidence. Once the crime scene has been investigated, the students are taught how to chemically analyze the evidence at an on-site laboratory. “We have so many poachers that have walked free in court because rangers didn’t collect enough evidence. In the first quarter of this year, IFAW reported 32 wildlife crime cases being presented in court and 24 people accused of wildlife crimes awaiting prosecution.

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Persons: Greg Simpson, isn’t, “, ”, Jo Munnik, Phil Snijman, ” Mkhabela, IFAW, Kevin Pretorius, Simpson Organizations: CNN, Initiative, Wildlife Forensics Academy, WFA, CSI, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Kenya Wildlife Service, Green Law Foundation, High Locations: Cape Town , South Africa, Africa, South Africa, KwaZulu, Natal, iMfolozi, Greater Kruger, “, Malawi, Botswana