During an ivory crushing event by National Parks Board (NParks) on August 11, 2020, the agency announced the launch of Singapore's first Centre for Wildlife Forensics (CWF).

S'pore's first Centre for Wildlife Forensics

With the CWF, NParks will be more equipped at identifying and analysing specimens from the illegal wildlife trade.

This will help to strengthen Singapore's role in combating the global illegal wildlife trade.

Just last year, local agencies, such as NParks, Singapore Customs, the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority seized record amounts of ivory and pangolin scales.

This included 11,900kg of pangolin scales and 8,800kg of raw elephant ivory.

According to the CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero, Singapore's launch of CWF reflects a major step towards combating the illegal wildlife trade and she applauded the move:

“The CITES secretariat has witnessed the high level of priority the government in Singapore affords to curtailing wildlife crime, and the sustained and coordinated involvement of multiple agencies in doing so. Singapore’s use of rigorous risk management and indicators has proven to be highly effective in the screening of suspicious cargo and passengers. The significant seizures made by authorities in Singapore underscore the efficiency of this approach, and the intelligence reports generated in this regard have also supported actions by other parties. I wish to applaud your government’s work in capacity building.

The launch of a Centre for Wildlife Forensics in Singapore represents a major step towards strengthening the country’s knowledge and capabilities. The Centre will establish a dedicated capacity building entity for enforcement officers, providing training for the complex task of detecting illegal wildlife and wildlife products. This is exactly the kind of response that is needed to tackle illegal wildlife crime. Forensic applications must fully be used to combat illegal trade in wildlife.”

Wildlife 'CSI' to bust global syndicates

Wildlife forensics can use seized animal parts, such as bones, skin and scales, to understand where the poached animal parts or animals come from.

According to NParks, CWF will use specialised diagnostic tools, such as DNA analysis methods, including next generation sequencing, and chemical methods such as mass spectrometry and isotope analysis.

Information from these methods, such as the source of the animal products, will allow NParks to help international organisations and source countries to undertake further investigation and enforcement action against poachers and smugglers.

These capabilities will also enable the analysis of seizures throughout the globe to identify potential linkages and syndicates through collaborations with

international experts and organisations, such as INTERPOL.

Somewhat similar to what you see in American TV series 'Crime Scene Investigation'.

The CWF will focus on wildlife most severely impacted by the illegal wildlife trade, which includes elephants, rhinoceros, pangolins, sharks and rays, and songbirds.

Not limited to animal species

These detection and diagnostic tools will not be reserved for animals alone, but also for plant species that are illegally traded.

Tapping on the expertise of the Singapore Botanic Gardens Herbarium, CWF will be able to conduct DNA analysis on illegally traded flora and to identify possible endangered species.

Other than the herbarium, NParks announced that the Singapore Xylarium (which features a collection of authenticated timber specimens) will be established to provide a resource on timber identification, timber samples, cross sections of timber samples, and a timber DNA library.

This will boost the in-house capabilities of the agency in identifying, investigating and prosecuting those in the illegal trade in CITES timber.

You can learn more about the newly-launched CWF in this video by NParks:

More information about the Centre for Wildlife Forensics can be found here.

Top images via NParks/Youtube