Sign on the dotted line awaited

Time of India

19-05-2025

wildlife forensic science
Karnataka Forest Department
Wildlife Institute of India
Karnataka's firstlaboratory in Bengaluru will take a few more months to become operational, the(KFD) has informed.According to KFD officials, an MoU with the(WII) to obtain representative samples for the laboratory in Madiwala is still in progress.'The laboratory has all the equipment needed to run forensic analysis, except representative samples. The MoU with WII in this regard is yet to take shape. We have written to the institute, and the process is expected to be completed over the next two to three months.Although KFD has collected some samples, they are not sufficient,' said Subhash K Malkhede, Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka.Training of six field staff in wildlife forensic cases has already been completed. Out of the six officials, two were sent to the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and four took training in the Wildlife Forensic Science Centre in Tamil Nadu.Notably, the Rs 2.7-crore project was last expected to be ready by April. The project was approved a couple of years ago and is being set up to improve the conviction rate in wildlife crime cases. Once operational, the facility, equipped with modern techniques and equipment, will provide analysis and reports to aid investigations, including DNA analysis and morphological analysis.The Department is currently dependent on the Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad, the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun, and the Tamil Nadu Forest Department for analysis of samples. Those analyses that require quick results are being sent to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals (IAH&VB) in Hebbal and the local forensic lab.Wildlife activists and experts say the forest department must ensure that the wildlife forensic sciences laboratory in Bengaluru is functional sooner rather than later.'For any sample analysis to be done locally, the department is dependent on labs associated with institutes and organisations that conduct these analyses pro bono. Thus, a report that can arrive in 48 hours takes months.The department is also struggling with thousands of wildlife offense cases, many of which could have received their logical end given an in-house wildlife forensic laboratory. The lab in Madiwala should be fully equipped and functional as soon as possible,' said a wildlife conservationist.As of December 2024, more than 4,000 wildlife offence cases are pending in Karnataka.