Animal CSI: using simulated crime scenes to help catch poachers – a photo essay

South Africa's Wildlife Forensic Academy uses a stuffed rhino, lion and giraffe to equip students and rangers with the skills needed to convict wildlife criminals

• Words and photographs by Tommy Trenchard

A rhino lies sprawled on its side in the sand, its horns sawn off and trails of crimson blood flowing from bullet holes in its thick grey hide. The scene is a familiar one in South Africa, where more than 8,000 have been killed by poachers for their horns over the past decade.

This time, however, the crime scene is fake. The rhino is stuffed, the blood a mix of red paint and resin.

Measurements are taken from a dead rhino at a fake crime scene at the Wildlife Forensic Academy