Texas State's "Body Farm" Plan Thwarted by Buzzards

From the beginning of Time, it is said, carrion-eating birds have often been the bane of existence for many. Arabian legend tells us, for example, that the Bedouin of the desert have long seen the arrival of vultures as ill-fated prophecy, portending naught but certain doom. So too it is has always been for cowboys on the range in our home state of Texas, who have always associated circling buzzards with certain death and calamity. Indeed, in all societies across the globe, the carrion bird is truly a universal symbol of preying desperation and naked avarice.

So it should come as no surprise to any of us that a recent project in San Marcos has been completely shut down for fear of this baleful, horrid bird's presence. As we reported on April 20th, Texas State University has been planning to create a 17-acre "body farm", a forensic field laboratory of sorts for examining and studying the way in which corpses decompose. The field was to be placed along Highway 21, at the university's horticultural center. The farm would have been the largest of its kind in the country. Before this week, the farm was "a done deal," according to TSU University Provost Perry Moore, unless the school received some new data proving the project was a bad idea.