Everyday hundreds of thousands of threatened species are being slaughtered around the world for their tusks, horns, skins, scales, flesh and more. Such is the sheer magnitude of this illegal trade that wildlife rangers in parks and sanctuaries face a round-the-clock battle to snare the perpetrators. With increasingly severe penalties, the perpetrators of wildlife crimes are using skilled defence lawyers to place doubt on the evidence and escape conviction.But authorities are fighting back and now Edinburgh-based TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network, working with TRAFFIC International, have helped Malawi develop their first wildlife forensic lab, as well as train the highly skilled wildlife rangers in globally recognised evidence collection and storage methods, to ensure evidence makes it from the crime scene to the courtroom.