"The young golden eagle on the operating table showed no outward signs of trauma. An X-ray had revealed no fractures.

But this bird, a protected species, was dead — and that’s why it was here, beak-up in a laboratory. It had been shipped to this picturesque college town by federal agents somewhere in the West who suspected it had been electrocuted by power lines. Now its carcass was evidence in an investigation that could lead to criminal charges against a utility company.

A veterinary pathologist was about to cut open the bird in the hope of determining its cause of death. This unusual federal facility, the world’s only full-service forensics lab for wildlife crimes, analyzes thousands of creatures that each year cross its threshold in the form of carcasses, parts and products. Its mission is to use science to find how the animal died — and often, to figure out what kind of animal it was."

Karin Brulliard reports for the Washington Post August 30, 2018, with photos by Leah Nash. [2]