Posted on 09/09/2003 5:09:51 AM PDT by NewHampshireDuo
Towns along Maine's southern coast are used to the mighty ocean washing animal bones and body parts onto their shores.
But the 10-pound stomach, discovered Sunday in the water off Colony Beach in Kennebunkport, was a surprise.
"Everybody has their own theory about how it got there, but basically, it was a pile of slop that washed in the same weekend as a hurricane off the coast," said Kennebunk Detective Troy Thibodeau.
In the summer, police receive calls about bones on the beach discovered by tourists and other beachgoers. In the fall, it's bones found in the woods by hunters. It's a side of Maine that doesn't make it onto the pages of glossy outdoor magazines or picture postcards.
Mark Latti, a spokesman for the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, said he has found a seal skull and dead turtle while walking the beach.
But he said grisly finds are not exclusive to the shore.
"It does happen, whether you're in the coast or the woods. If you spend enough hours walking an area, you do find things," he said.
On Sunday, a woman walking the rocky beach about a mile from former President George Bush's estate spotted something coming into shore.
She called police, who collected what appeared to be internal organs and placed them in a biohazard container, Thibodeau said.
After storing it in a cool place overnight, Thibodeau drove it to Augusta for examination by the Medical Examiner's Office.
It became obvious during the autopsy that the organ was a stomach with four compartments, he said.
He believes it was a sheep. Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the state Public Safety Department, said he was told it also could have come from a deer, moose, or cow.
"The Medical Examiner's Office said that this is the remains of an animal, a cud-chewing animal," he said.
The office estimates it receives an average of at least one bone a week, usually found by people walking the beach, hunting in the woods or excavating for new construction.
Forensic anthropologist Marcella Sorg assists the Medical Examiner's Office in cases involving examining skeletal and decomposed remains.
She had not seen the stomach from Kennebunkport as of Monday, but said she is frequently asked to determine the original source of animal bones.
"I can usually tell by sight. I've worked here in Maine since 1977," she said.
Latti said it can be difficult to make the distinction between animal and human bones, if there are no skeletons or clothing items in the area.
Hunters will call state game wardens if they discover a wallet or jewelry in the woods.
Occasionally, they will discover the body of a person reported missing.
"We do get called in to investigate," he said.
I'd be putting out a Teddy Kennedy alert if this wasn't undersized.
These folks never heard of a sea cow, I guess.
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