Photo Credit: Natalie Maynor via Wiki Commons
From the Brandon Patch:
The University of South Florida and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office have joined forces to bring this particular proposal to life. The program, dubbed the Facility for Outdoor Experimental Research and Training (FORT), is being proposed to serve as a resource and training center for Florida’s medical and legal communities.
The “body farm” would sit on 2 acres of county owned and controlled land at the Walter C. Heinrich Practical Training Center in Lithia. Bodies for the farm would come from USF’s After Life Body Donation Program to advance research in forensic anthropology and legal medicine, the county explained in a media release. The cadavers “planted” on the farm would be left exposed to the elements so they can be studied by researchers and law enforcement.
Researchers want to help law enforcement better understand human decomposition under a variety of conditions. The facility will also be used as an outdoor crime scene training location.
Colorado, Illinois, Maine, and Texas also have active body farms, but the facility in Florida would offer a unique view into the effects of Florida’s subtropical climate on human remains.
No word on what this will do to the property values in the neighborhood.
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