On a cold, dark and rainy Thursday afternoon, two high schoolers – 16-year-old Ozzy Paulus and 17-year-old Jacob Nation – walked on a path behind the Harrison Bay Future Ready Center.
There, they were greeted with the slight smell of animal remains.
As they continued along their way, they pointed out seven dead caged animals: a pigeon, a squirrel, an armadillo, a cat, a deer and two doves. The area was similar to a body farm.
“It smelled worse when we first came out here. That was about two weeks ago,” Paulus said. “You can see the deer’s insides are quite liquidated. That’s how we found it a few days ago.”
The boys then went back to their classroom. Along with their classmates, they examined insects that they took off the carcasses, using a mobile app to help identify the species.