Today’s science-crime police blotter…

Dateline: Washington state. 3news reports on a paleontological poacher pinched purloining a prehistoric proto-pig:

A Longview, Washington, man accused of digging up the skull of a hog-like animal that predated humans by 20 million years has been banned from US national park lands for a year.

David Wixon apparently used a rock hammer to pry out the remains of an oreodont. Officially, a misdemeanor with a $4,500 fine.

But the shame should last a lifetime… or longer.

[via Archaeological News]