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Veterinarians often come into contact with the law in cases of animal cruelty, domestic animal and wildlife crimes, and human crimes with an animal element. This book provides practical information and training on how to operate within a crime scene. It covers the tests that may need to be carried out, collecting evidence, preparing reports and giving evidence in court as an expert witness.Concentrating on the basic principles and background knowledge needed, the book includes hair, blood and bite mark analysis as well as an overview of firearms injury. It explores wider concepts such as the human-animal bond and one health, going on to give practical guidance and numerous case studies, which bring the book to life and into the real world of the busy crime scene. Practical Veterinary Forensics is an indispensable guide to all veterinarians working in cases of animal cruelty, abuse and crimes against animals. It is essential for welfare organizations, animal shelters and those requiring an introduction to veterinary forensic science. Contrary to prevailing assumptions, illegal killing of endangered wildlife is not a problem of developing countries alone, it does occur in Europe and in the Alpine Region as well. The Alpine Region located in the heart of Europe constitutes a refugium for many species of wildlife. However, it is also a partially densely populated area and is heavily used for recreational purposes as well as a main artery in continental traffic, thereby limiting exchange of animal populations due to lack of appropriate corridors. Simultaneously, due to the manifold usage of the landscape, conflicting interests arise between the various stakeholders, like landowners and –users, and, therefore, illegal killings of some highly endangered species of animals have occurred in the past. Especially large predators like bears, wolves, lynx and birds of prey are at risk. These incidences counteract the many conservation-efforts and -programs by regional authorities and organizations to establish viable populations of these species. Illegal killings of wildlife are not easy to detect, confirm and address, and the activities to prosecute this type of crimes are often flawed due to the lack of a systematic and comprehensive approach to them. This handbook was compiled in course of the EU-funded Alpine Space Program called “ALPBIONET2030 - Integrative Alpine wildlife and habitat management for the next generation”. It aims at assembling harmonized standard operating procedures for forensic methods in (suspected) wildlife crime cases. It is addressed to all authorities, persons, organisations etc. dealing with wildlife crime cases and spans the whole process from the detection of a dead animal to the prosecution in court. We hope that our “Handbook on Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in Forensic Investigations of Suspected Illegal Killing of Wildlife” will help in counter fighting illegal killings in the Alpine Area by presenting the basic facts and information as well as practical recommendations for the complete forensic process and investigations. Vienna, December 2019 Christoph Beiglböck & Chris Walzer 9 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 General Wildlife crimes occur in many forms: • Illegal keeping/trading of wildlife • Killing of wildlife - under unlawful conditions - by inappropriate means or methods • Damaging health of wildlife Especially the illegal killing of wildlife and trafficking of the products is big business: “With a value estimated up to $23 billion, illegal wildlife trafficking is the fourth most lucrative global crime after drugs, humans and arms” according to the World Economic Forum. Persecution and prosecution of alleged perpetrators is often unsuccessful or come to nothing because of the many pitfalls that may ensue. These include: − Varying legislations, standardisations and responsibilities − Lack of knowledge of legal authorities regarding essential biological aspects − Prosecutors unaware of the legal aspects of wildlife crimes and their aspects in conservation efforts − Improper CSI − Improper handling, storage and transport of samples − No/inexact necropsy − Investigators and laboratories not familiar with wildlife crime incidents, the methods used for killing and the respective legal and methodical requirements − Not initiating ancillary investigation techniques available − Vague testimony Many of the pitfalls mentioned above can be met by using standardized methods and procedures as well as by a deeper understanding of the possible problems associated with forensic investigations in suspected wildlife crimes. These investigations can be challenging, but, as with other types of crimes, the most important action is gathering evidence through thorough crime scene investigations and exhaustive and conclusive ancillary examinations. Distinguishing between an illegal killing and any accidental or natural cause of death is the paramount objective in a suspected wildlife crime case! 10 Our handbook exclusively deals with wildlife found dead under suspicious circumstances, and focuses on (highly) endangered mammals and birds of the alpine area that are known to be under threat of illegal persecution. It will NOT deal with other wildlife crimes such as illegal wildlife trade, forest crimes etc. The “target species” of this handbook are the Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos), the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) and the Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus) regarding mammals, and birds of prey in general. However, the information and recommendations in this handbook can easily be applied to incidents where other species of wild mammals and birds are involved. For more information on the diagnosis of suspected kills of livestock and other animals by (large) carnivores, the readers should refer to the handbook “A Fieldguide for Investigating Damages Caused by Carnivores” that was compiled in course of the EU-funded “Life Dinalp Bear” project. This guide can be downloaded via this link: