Thanks Ed Swan for your kind words about the Slater Museum's kits and publicizing what to do with dead animals so that they have a life after their life (both the Slater and the Burke will take salvaged birds, mammals and herps). For teachers and others who are interested, the Slater Museum has 4 curriculum kits available. There is the bird kit that Ed mentioned (the curriculum focuses on examining beaks and feet to infer how the bird makes its living and the kit includes 33 local species, but it can also be used for bird identification), one that features local mammal skulls focusing on structure/function relationships and using dichotomous keys, one that uses a variety of natural history artifacts to develop young naturalists' observational abilities, and one that uses fossil and existing plants to examine climate change in Washington over the past 100 million years. At this point, kit use is still free! For more information:
http://www.pugetsound.edu/academics/academic-resources/slater-museum/education-outreach/nature-in-the-classroom/
If you're interested in talking more about the kits or reserving one for your classroom or event contact:
slatermuseum at pugetsound.edu

Thanks,
Peter Wimberger
Tacoma, Washington
Slater Museum of Natural History