Individual identification of fallow deer using microsatellite polymorphism in a case of poaching]

The paper reports on molecular biological investigations in a case of poaching which resulted in considerable damage for property. Blood traces from poaching sites have been analysed and compared with blood from two knives and a pair of trousers of the suspects. In two of three poaching sites, genomic DNA could be amplified by PCR and assigned to fallow deer. The authors could demonstrate identical allelic combinations between one of the poaching sites and a part of the traces. Problems of the legal appreciation in this case are described.