A new study funded by the NWTF will determine the differences between wild and domestic turkey DNA, information wildlife agencies need to convict suspected poachers.

Wildlife law enforcement officers could soon have a new tool for enforcing wild turkey hunting laws.

Dr. Karen Mock, associate professor at Utah State University, is studying the genetic differences between wild and domestic turkeys and using the results to develop tests game wardens can use to determine whether turkey products possessed by suspected poachers come from wild or domestic birds. Such evidence would help wildlife agencies convict poachers without having to catch them in the act.

The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) funded the study.

"Right now we don't have a test that can be taken into court to prove whether a turkey is domestic or wild from a tissue sample," said Tom Hughes, NWTF biologist over research projects. "We have confidence that tests resulting from this study will be accepted by the courts as proof of wild turkey game law violations."

The study will determine how to tell the difference between domestic and wild turkeys by comparing DNA in tissue samples taken from the Rio Grande wild turkey subspecies to two common domestic turkey lineages, the Spanish Black and the Narragansett. Once consistent processes for telling wild and domestic turkey DNA apart have been developed, these processes can be standardized for forensics labs to use in wildlife court cases as evidence.