Send out a PETA alert. The remains found in a river in Anne Arundel County are not human.
They're actually bear paws, Maryland State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said Sunday.
State police had originally thought the claws were human remains after someone found one washed up on the beach in Pasadena, Md., and combed Cockey Creek River near Riverside Drive where they found a second foot floating in the water.
The remains were sent to the state morgue in Baltimore, where the state medical examiner determined that the remains were the skinned and declawed paws of a bear.
When a bear carcass is prepared, especially for taxidermy purposes, the feet are skinned and cut off. The claws are removed from the foot, and the remaining skinned foot can resemble a large human foot with five toes, police said.
Unfortunately, these remains are sometimes discarded inappropriately in areas where they will be found by others, according to officials.
