The enforcement of wildlife laws becomes more complex and complicated each day and requires the wildlife officer to use every available tool to perform his job. Wildlife forensic techniques provide scientific methods to supplement the wildlife officer's work in the field. Wildlife forensic techniques provide methods necessary to answer law enforcement problems which remained unanswered in the past but have been answered today, and to solve tomorrow's problems with answers which do not exist today. Wildlife forensics is not a panacea for the wildlife officer, however, it is another tool in his arsenal against the poacher. The science of wildlife forensics is similar to air travel. Yesterday's wildlife officer flew a propeller driven plane. Today's wildlife officer has moved into the jet age. Tomorrow's wildlife officer will enter the space age.
