Game wardens from as far away as Kentucky and Ohio descended upon Seeley Lake May 9-11 for a Wildlife Field Forensics Seminar hosted by Wildlife Field Forensics. The 58 state, federal and tribal officers had lectures and field training for learning skills needed in forensic analysis of wildlife cases.
Seminar classes included investigating wildlife-human conflicts, decomposition stages for forensic analysis, firearms evidence field analysis, entomology related to crime analysis and field practice to determine time of death on wildlife carcasses provided by Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. (FWP)
“This seminar gives officers more in-depth training for investigating wildlife crimes and incidents,” said Brian Sommers, retired Montana Game Warden and wildlife crime investigator. “I’m teaching people to look for clues that aren’t readily obvious.”
Establishing time of death through insect analysis was taught by Dr. Gail Anderson, American Board Certified Forensic Entomologist and professor of Forensic Entomology in the School of Criminology at Simon-Fraser University, Vancouver B.C.. Anderson’s job includes training police officers to collect the flies, maggots, beetles and other signs of insect life on dead bodies so they can be taken to the lab for analysis. The insects can reveal a lot.
Insects are the first to arrive at a mortality scene. Insects of all kinds mature in a predictable fashion which indicates the time of death of the carcass. Insect data has been upheld as evidence in court, said Anderson.
“My research establishes the approximate time of death,” Anderson said. “It can also help investigators determine whether the body has been moved, disturbed or wounded—all information that can lead to outcomes such as identification, exoneration and conviction.”
Although a human forensics specialist, Anderson pointed out many similarities between human and wildlife forensics.
The time of death can make or break an alibi and point the investigation to the correct time frame to determine when the animal was killed and if a crime was committed.
Giving game wardens additional training makes a big difference in successful wildlife investigations, agreed Tony Latham, retired Idaho Fish and Game investigator. Game wardens have the first boots on the ground and effective investigations are important in case of court cases.
“I wanted to come to the seminar because it is relevant to research crime scene management,” said participant Samantha de Vries, Vancouver B.C., researcher in the illegal wildlife parts trade and forensic doctoral program student.
The seminar ended with on-site investigation of carcasses donated by Montana FWP. A roofed enclosure was set up a month previously at the carcass compost facility near Clearwater Junction with a few road killed deer and one management removal bear collected over the previous month. Participants were able to see different decomposition stages and identify insect populations with a field kit. A necropsy demonstration was done by Latham. Investigative practice in wildlife-human conflicts was taught by Sommers.
Wildlife Field Forensics is the brainchild of Carleen Gonder, Seeley Lake. After many years of government law enforcement work Gonder attended University of Montana as a grad student. Conducting decomposition research to estimate the time of death of poached wildlife through identifying different stages of decomposition and documenting temperature history of the carcass site was her research project. The research project led Gonder to found Wildlife Field Forensics. Wildlife Field Forensics is for crime scene training for state, federal and tribal wildlife law enforcement officers and wardens. The 2023 seminar is the 13th seminar since 2007.
“I started Wildlife Field Forensics because it’s the kind of training I wanted when I was a wildlife law enforcement officer with US Fish and Wildlife Service,” said Gonder. “I feel like it’s needed.”
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