Contributor Q&A: Marita Davison on protecting critical species

As a conservation biologist, what were some of your initial thoughts when you were assigned a story on wildlife trafficking?

I felt both excited - what science nerd wouldn’t want to see a wildlife forensics lab? - and nervous. Nervous because in going to a lab like this one, I knew I’d have to come up close and personal with one of the ugliest and most dangerous issues in conservation biology: poaching and illegal trafficking.

Our visit helped put into focus the criminality of trade in endangered species. Threat of criminal punishment can be a convincing way to conserve animals at risk of extinction. But the deep taproot of the problem is that a market, sometimes a very lucrative one, exists for products made from endangered species. Many of these wildlife species live in places with very real poverty problems, making poaching and trafficking a tempting pursuit despite the danger involved. The holy grail would be to eliminate or at least reduce the demand for the products in the first place. 

Tell us about the lab, what was it like being in the world’s largest wildlife forensic unit?

It’s not just the world’s largest, it’s the world’s only wildlife forensics lab! That blew my mind. Walking up to the building…it was very nondescript. It didn’t seem like anything particularly special was going on there. But then you walk in and, wow. It’s a huge facility with state of the art equipment. The staff members are ninjas of forensics. They have to cover a breadth of disciplines and many, many different species. Chemistry, morphology, criminology, genetics, and forensics - the lab is a one stop shop for all of these things. That was really impressive to see. Another impressive part of the lab is its culture, spearheaded by director Ken Goddard. This was a group of people on a mission. There was a true sense of solidarity and sense of purpose there. 

Many of the scientists at the lab think rhinos are veering towards extinction, was that surprising to hear?

No. As a biologist, I’m all too aware that rhinos are some of the most critically endangered of animals on earth. I had the privilege of seeing these massive creatures in the wild last year and it was breathtaking. They are like magnificent tanks out on the savannah. But this is one great example of why the work going on at the lab is so important. The lab is helping to address one of the biggest threats to the rhino’s long term survival.  

Most birders keep a life list, birds they’ve identified. Pepper Trail, the head ornithologist, also has a death list, those are birds he’s processed in the lab. How hard can it be to focus on the science when you’re faced with the gory details?

Ah yes, this was particularly fascinating to me. Because as professionals in forensics, it was clear that everyone at the lab had to separate themselves from the emotion that comes from handling animals that were tortured and killed. It seemed that most everyone was able to put blinders on to these emotions in order to get the job done. They know the science must be sound and as objective as possible in order to produce credible evidence that can hold up in a court of law. But in talking to some of the staff members, it’s obvious they don’t go without feeling some sense of sadness over the cases they get. They are human, after all.