Centre for Forensic Science, Zoological Survey of India, New Alipore, Kolkata, 700 053, West Bengal, India.
Int J Legal Med. 2021 Jul;135(4):1413-1416. doi: 10.1007/s00414-021-02574-3. Epub 2021 Apr 6.
Poaching of South Asian river dolphins is considered one of the main reasons for the rapid decline of their natural populations. To curb the escalated rate of poaching, high numbers of oil and meat seizures are recovered with subsequent convictions by the law enforcement agencies. In this connection, we report a case where suspected animal oil was confiscated by the forest official of West Bengal. We extracted DNA and successfully amplified partial fragments of Cytb and 16S rRNA mitochondrial genes. The generated sequences identified that the seized oil belonged to the Ganges river dolphin (Platanista gangetica) which is protected as Schedule I under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 of India and listed as "Endangered" under IUCN and APPENDIX I in CITES. In routine case work analysis, oil samples are not preferred for forensic DNA investigation due to low DNA yield and presence of inhibitors or contaminants leading to high failure rate. However, the present study generates hope for identifying species from seized animal oil and supports law enforcement in successful prosecution of the case.
南亚江豚的偷猎被认为是其野生种群数量迅速减少的主要原因之一。为了遏制偷猎的加剧，执法机构通过没收大量的油和肉，并随后定罪，来挽回局面。在这方面，我们报告了一个案例，在该案例中，西孟加拉邦的森林官员没收了涉嫌的动物油。我们提取了 DNA，并成功扩增了 Cytb 和 16S rRNA 线粒体基因的部分片段。生成的序列表明，被没收的油属于恒河豚（Platanista gangetica），根据 1972 年《印度野生动物（保护）法》，它被列为附表 I 保护物种，并被 IUCN 列为“濒危”物种，同时也被列入 CITES 的附录 I。在常规案件工作分析中，由于 DNA 产量低、存在抑制剂或污染物导致高失败率，因此不倾向于使用油样进行法医 DNA 调查。然而，本研究为从没收的动物油中鉴定物种提供了希望，并为执法部门成功起诉案件提供了支持。
