Life's Healthier Here.

More respect for the law of nature and all:

Thirteen bald eagles were found dead over the weekend near a farm on Maryland's Eastern Shore in what authorities say is the largest single die-off of bald eagles in the state in 30 years.

Officials with the Maryland Natural Resources Police said they received a call about 2:30 p.m. Saturday from a man who said he was out looking for antlers that deer might have shed and came across what he initially thought was a dead turkey in a field on a farm in Caroline County. But he discovered it was actually four dead bald eagles.

When officers arrived, they found nine additional dead bald eagles in the field on Laurel Grove Road in Federalsburg.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the birds to die but one official said there were "no obvious signs of trauma with these birds," according to Candy Thomson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Natural Resources Police.

~ Dana Hedgpeth

Eagles are scavengers, who enjoy roadkill and dead carcasses as well as field mice. I suspect poison; an autopsy will be telling.

Gotta watch those "helper" chemicals, and take care in their application. When animals die, humans are at risk too. Freedom symbolism aside. (13, you say?)