Wildlife Forensics Scientists Meet
120 wildlife forensics scientists from around the world met at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon, for the inaugural conference held by the newly formed Society for Wildlife Forensic Sciences.
The Society for Wildlife Forensic Sciences' goal is to help develop wildlife forensics into a mature discipline with commonly accepted procedures that will stand up in court. The meeting represented the official creation of the new Society, with the passage of By-Laws, the election of Officers and a Board of Directors, and the adoption of a Code of Ethics and Conduct. The Society for Wildlife Forensic Science now has 104 members.
In addition to talks on standardization, the conference agenda included a presentation by the U.S. Department of Justice on changes in wildlife laws and testifying in court as well as presentations on hair identification, statistics and wildlife, and real-time PCR analysis. Attendees also toured the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Forensics Laboratory.
The next meeting will be in the Spring of 2012 in Vancouver, BC, after which the society will meet every three years.
