Berkeley residents reported finding two boars’ heads and skin pelts in two separate locations Monday morning.
The boar-skin pelts were found in front of Black & White liquor store on Adeline and Emerson, and in front of Herbivore restaurant on Shattuck and Haste. Police officers arrived at the former location — which is also very close to vegetarian restaurant Flaco’s Tacos at 3031 Adeline — and removed the pelt after receiving a call at 11:06 a.m., according to Berkeley Police spokeswoman Officer Jennifer Coats.
The head recovered by police was taken to Berkeley Animal Care Services on Bolivar Drive in West Berkeley.
Police also received a call about the second sighting of a boar’s pelt at 9:29 a.m., but a downtown Berkeley ambassador removed the pelt from the site before an officer arrived.
The boar heads made rounds on Twitter after Berkeley resident Anna Abramson uploaded her discovery on Adeline Street. Abramson saw it around 11 a.m. as she and her girlfriend were walking to Berkeley Bowl.
“I completely didn’t know what to think,” Abramson said. “We were just kind of standing there.”
Ambramson tweeted the following:
Officially seen it all on streets of #berkeley: skinned BOAR. @berkeleyside @sfchronicle @SFGate please solve mystery pic.twitter.com/kf7ceOe9FH
— Anna Abramson (@AnnaAbramson) January 19, 2015
Samantha Jones, Abramson’s cousin, witnessed the Shattuck boar head as she was having breakfast at Herbivore. She saw a downtown Berkeley ambassador remove it between 9:30 and 9:45 a.m.
Lance Gorée, operations manager of the Downtown Berkeley Association ambassador program, confirmed they had possession of the boar’s head and said they had asked Berkeley sanitation services for advice on what to do with it.
“It was well-butchered,” Gorée said. “It was done by someone who knew what they were doing.”
Managers at Black and White and Herbivore said they had not seen the boar heads themselves, and had different ideas on when the heads may have been left.
Daniel Banger, manager at Black & White, believed the head was dropped off before the store opened in the early morning. Daniel Garcia, manager at Herbivore, said he thought the head may have been left after the morning cooks and servers came in around 9 a.m.
The owner of Black and White captured a white pickup truck pulling up close to the store, according to a Berkeleyside tipster who asked not to be named. The video captured a man wearing gloves getting out of the truck, pulling the boar’s head from the cab of the truck, and placing it on the garbage can.
The overall reaction to the unexpected discoveries left most people confused but still in good humor.
“We were very surprised,” Gorée said, adding: “Hey, it’s Berkeley.”
Seung Y. Lee is a journalist who has previously worked at the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and the Daily Californian.
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