Dr Robert Timmins from the Wildlife Conservation Society saw that it was probably unknown to science and brought it to the attention of his peers.

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Dr. William W. Fox, Jr. is currently Vice President of Fisheries at World Wildlife Fund, a non-profit charity dedicated to global conservation through science-based solutions.

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But wildlife management officials and conservationists say the aerial hunting strategy is based on myth and not science.

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Dr Lucy Webster, who is co-ordinating the government-funded science from a lab outside Edinburgh, usually spends her time investigating DNA at wildlife crime scenes.

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"Unfortunately, politics seem to have overtaken science, " Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the head of the U.S. delegation to the Bangkok conference, said in a statement.

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