You’re driving to work when you pass a furry mass on the side of the road. It’s small and still. Your stomach sinks, and you continue to your destination, more than likely trying to avoid thinking about what you just saw.
There are others who make it their life’s mission to understand what happened.
The University of Florida’s Veterinary Forensic Sciences Laboratory identifies causes of death in free-roaming cats and investigates animal cruelty. In short: They fight crimes against cats.
The program, called A Cat Has No Name, is a bastion of scientific beneficence and for good reason: Adam Stern, a professor of forensic pathology and veterinarian, has spent years investigating cat deaths, identifying patterns and building a repository not only of data points, but how best to collect them.