Something smelled fishy in Oakley.
Marcus Calhoun and his 3-year-old daughter, Malia, both noticed the stench while walking to Fresh Market just before 6 p.m. April 28.
Then Calhoun said he saw two Cincinnati police officers tip over a cardboard box, freeing what appeared to be a dead shark that unceremoniously flopped into the grass of the sidewalk.
He took a photo depicting the head, gills and upper fins of what appears to be a shark next to a street sign as the officers made passing jokes about it coming from the Ohio River. The bloody cardboard box next to it was labeled for a powerful outdoor light.
“I love sharks!” Malia exclaimed.
(Calhoun said his daughter “doesn’t really understand the concept of life and death that well.”)
Oakley shark mystery: A real jaw-dropper
A Cincinnati police spokesperson said officials with public works removed the fish. There’s no criminal case and police aren’t investigating how it ended up there.
“Did someone catch it?” asked Calhoun. “Did someone go to Jungle Jim’s?”
“Yes, Jungle Jim’s does sell shark from time to time,” said the grocery store’s spokesperson, Zach Cobb. “But I highly, highly doubt this came from our store.”
The international market mainly sells shark steaks, Cobb said. Its staff avoids cutting shark heads because it requires specialized training. “And, I mean, that photo is a chop right down the head,” he said.
Cobb said Cincinnati is a hub for international markets and wondered if it may have fallen off a truck on its way to another store.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Police sniff out mysterious find: Possible shark head found in Oakley
Reporting by Matthew Cupelli, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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