South Hutchinson, Kan. ? A severed foot found in a South Hutchinson discount store parking lot came from a black bear, not a human.

Police said they treated the discovery of the foot as a major crime after a woman who saw it Wednesday told a store employee, who called 911. Police Chief Scott Jones said the foot came from an Arkansas taxidermist who was playing a practical joke on a friend from Nickerson.

Jones said the taxidermist tied the foot to the front of the man’s pickup during a visit to Arkansas in January. After the man moved the foot inside the truck, he apparently grew tired of looking at it and threw it out the window.

Jones said the “leathery” appendage appeared similar to a decomposing human foot. The chief said the man phoned him Thursday after seeing media coverage of the story.