Over the last eight years the Victoria Falls Wildlife Trust (VFWT) has received about £250,000 from the People’s Postcode Lottery in the UK to build up the DNA database of lions in Zimbabwe.
The scientist at the trust, who made the discovery, asked to remain anonymous for his own safety, but said:
“Before we had access to this technology, we were only able to do species identification, but sometimes that’s not enough.
“We can essentially match those claws or those products to the lion of interest that we are looking for.”
Within 10 days of the killing, the DNA evidence was presented in court.
Two men pleaded guilty and were given 24 month prison sentences.
The hearing was told the value of the lion was about $20,000.
Richard Scobey, Traffic’s executive director, said “countries now have the forensic capability to bring, solid science-based evidence to court” and that it will have global impact.