CHICAGO _ An item pulled from the Chicago River this weekend was not a human body part, as police initially thought, but may be a beef tongue, authorities said Monday.
A forensic pathologist at the Cook County medical examiner's office reviewed the item found in 2200 block of West Diversey Avenue in the North Branch of the river and determined it was not human remains, said spokeswoman Becky Schlikerman.
Chicago Police Marine Unit officers pulled the item from the river about 3:10 p.m. Sunday, and detectives responded to the scene, police said.
Police believed the item was possibly a beef tongue, and it was wrapped in several photos of fetuses, said Anthony Guglielmi, chief police spokesman. There was no criminal investigation into the incident, Guglielmi said.
"We have no information as to who may have placed this object in the river or where," Guglielmi wrote in an email.
It's not the first time an animal tongue has been found in the Shakespeare Police District, which includes neighborhoods such as Logan Square, Avondale and Wicker Park.
Last year, an animal's tongue, likely also a beef tongue, was stapled to a tree and decorated near Palmer Square Park, where it hung for days until a Chicago Park District worker cut it down.
It was not clear if the tongue was part of a public art display or a used as a symbol in Santeria, an Afro-Caribbean religion.
