Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 13 March 2020: Last Saturday (7^th of March) the Wildlife Trust of India’s HQ witnessed an interesting workshop on “Fighting Wildlife Crime with Forensics” by Ravi Perera, CEO, Serendipity Wildlife Foundation. The workshop was attended by WTI staff, law and enforcement officials from Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and Delhi forest department. Key participants included H.V. Girish Regional Head of Northern Region, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, A. Pragatheesh, Wildlife Inspector, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Arnab Basu, Wildlife Inspector, WCCB, K.S Jayachadran, Dy Conservator of Forests, Delhi Forest Department, Mr. Sajan John, Head of Policy & Marine Projects, WTI, Ms. Radhika Bhagat, Head, Wildlife Crime Control Division (WTI), and several other staff from WTI.

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Trainer Profile: Ravi Perera, an alumnus of the prestigious FBI Forensic Academy retired from law enforcement in the US in March 2019 after 25 years of an illustrious career service., handling over 5000 crime scenes, he is also a certified Digital Forensics Investigator. He has also founded the Serendipity Wildlife Foundation. CSI wildlife – the Anti-Poaching and Training Division of the foundation trains anti-Poaching personnel in collecting evidence, managing crime scenes, conducting searches, and analyzing evidence across Kenya and Sri Lanka. CSI wildlife will soon be setting up the first Digital Forensics Lab in Sri Lanka dedicated solely to wildlife crimes.

This workshop was on usage of forensics in wildlife crime investigation and prosecution with aspects of poaching and wildlife trafficking.  The trainer emphasized the important role of Digital Forensics in investigating wildlife crimes and significance of training frontline staff and Rangers to collect fingerprints at wildlife crime scenes. He demonstrated the various tools and techniques used for Wildlife Crime Scene Investigation like crime scene preservation, finger print recovery, gun-shot residue testing and DNA extraction for evidence collection. He also stressed on formation of a Fingerprint Database exclusively for wildlife criminals for a co-ordinated strategy to combat international illegal wildlife trade (IWT) across the globe.

This training working by an ex FBI officer was very well received by the participants “It was interesting to know that along with conventional forensic methods used by enforcement agencies to bust illegal wildlife trafficking cartels, how important and useful is the use of digital forensics” said Sajan John in appreciation of this workshop.