title: Wildlife DNA forensics against crime: resolution of a case of tortoise theft.
abstract: A paternity test was used to investigate a robbery case involving captive individuals of Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca). Six tortoises were allegedly stolen from a private breeder and offered for sale on the web by the supposed thief. The stolen tortoises were confiscated by the rangers of the State Forestry Corps (CFS). A panel of 14 autosomal microsatellite loci was used to genotype the seized tortoises and ten individuals assumed to be legally owned by the breeder. Kinship analyses reliably reconstructed the tortoise pedigree, demonstrating parent-offspring relationships among the owned and the stolen tortoises. As correctly declared by the breeder, four of the six stolen individuals belonged to the same family group of the ten legally owned tortoises. Results indicate that genetic identification procedures can provide valuable evidence and give useful support against illegal wildlife traffic.
authors: Laboratorio di Genetica, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Via Cà Fornacetta 9, 40064 Ozzano dell'Emilia, Bo, Italy. Electronic address: nadia.mucci@isprambiente.it.
authors: Nadia
authors: N
authors: Mucci
authors: Chiara
authors: C
authors: Mengoni
authors: Ettore
authors: E
authors: Randi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000235:genetics*; D003415:Crime; D053803:Forensic Genetics; D014426:Turtles / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: CITES; Greek tortoise; Microsatellites; Paternity testing; Testudo graeca; Wildlife forensics