Abstract
Throughout their habitats gazelles (genus Gazella) face immediate threats due to anthropogenic effects and natural environmental changes.
Excessive poaching plays a major role in their populations decline. Three unique populations
of gazelles currently live in Israel: mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), Dorcas gazelle (Gazella Dorcas) and acacia gazelle (Gazella arabica acacia). Ongoing habitat degradation and constant pressure from illegal hunting has caused
a continuous decrease in the last 10 years, stressing the need for drastic measures
to prevent species extinction. Wildlife forensic science assists enforcement agencies
in the escalating arms race against poachers. Wildlife forensic genetic tests being
implemented in our laboratory offer both species and individual identification, which
rely on two mitochondrial genes (12S rRNA and 16S rRNA) and nine nuclear Short Tandem
Repeats (STR), respectively. The current study, presents a poaching case in which
mitochondrial DNA-based species identification revealed the presence of mountain gazelle
DNA on the seized items. Subsequently, STR markers linked the suspect to more than
one gazelle, increasing the severity of the criminal charges.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 02, 2016
Accepted:
May 29,
2016
Received in revised form:
May 4,
2016
Received:
January 24,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
