Woman finds boar’s head in driveway

BAR HARBOR – A wild boar’s head was found Monday in the driveway of a local home, but at this point there is no reason to think there is anything suspicious or criminal about the incident, according to police.

A woman returned to her home on Sand Point Road around noon Monday to find the severed head in her driveway, Officer Thom Tardiff said Tuesday. The head seemed to be the result of a recent kill, he said.

“These aren’t native to the island or even to the area,” Tardiff said.

The woman is a dog sitter and speculated that one of the dogs she is taking care of may have found the head somewhere and dragged it into the driveway, the officer said. He said the woman had the head moved into the nearby woods.

Tardiff said there is no reason now to think the head was deliberately placed in the driveway to harass or intimidate anyone. He said that if another animal head or something similar appears somewhere, police might decide to revisit the incident.

“Hopefully, it’s the last boar head I see in the near future,” he said.

It’s not the only strange animal incident Tardiff has dealt with this week. The officer also received a report of a severed deer leg found March 12 on Route 3 between Champlain and Dorr mountains. The leg bore old wounds, he said, and could have been severed when the deer was hit by a vehicle. No three-legged deer was found at the scene.

Also on March 12, Tardiff received a complaint about a basement being trashed in a home on Barberry Lane. Someone or something broke in through a window, knocked over furniture and tore down exposed insulation, but did not go through any unlocked doors, he said. A basement door that leads outside had been forced outward, bending a bolt that had held it shut.

Based on the damage and the apparent path the invader took in getting into and out of the basement, Tardiff said, it appeared a bear was to blame, though there was no sign of claw marks or bear tracks in or outside the home.

“It was very odd,” the officer said.

btrotter@bangordailynews.net

460-6318