Man tries to board plane with severed seal head.

From Ananova:

A US man was arrested as he tried to board a plane with the severed head of a seal. The man, said to be from Colorado and in his 40s, tried to take the head onto a flight at Logan Airport, Boston. Airport security agents discovered it in a small canvas cooler and immediately notified state and federal authorities, reports the Boston Globe.

The man, who was bound for Denver, told investigators that he was a biology professor and that he had found a dead seal on a beach. He told officials that he cut off its head so he could take it home for educational purposes.

After more than an hour of questioning at the airport by federal and state authorities, investigators said the man was allowed to board a plane - without the seal's head. The head is now in the possession of investigators from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement.

The man could face charges under the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, which carries civil fines of up to $12,000, criminal fines up to $20,000, and possible imprisonment of up to a year.