MAIL inspectors are used to discovering the weird and wonderful in the overseas post but they were taken aback when they opened a parcel from the US to find a real, snarling bear's head.
Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service says it is one of the "strangest" things ever sent by mail.
The brown bear - sent by someone in New Jersey to their grandfather who lives in western Sydney - was first identified as a suspicious package by X-ray machine. It was intercepted at the Clyde Mail Centre, and the owner had to pay $60 to have it treated with gamma radiation before it could be released.
NSW Quarantine Mail and Detector Dog manager Andrew Christie said the discovery of the bear head followed a spate of "weird items" that have arrived in the mail from overseas recently.
"We've had a bear skin and a real elephant's foot, which had been made into an umbrella stand," he told The Sunday Telegraph.
They have been added to the AQIS hall of fame, which includes: a dried tiger's penis, a walking stick made from a bull's member, a mounted and stuffed exotic bird, bear and zebra skins, dried worms, and live creatures such as lizards, snakes, tropical fish and giant cockroaches.
"We receive everything from a cup of noodle soup right through to the bear's head and everything in between," Mr Christie said. "There was a craze for a while of dried scorpions and crickets in the chip flavours of salt and vinegar, barbecue and chicken.
"The cockroaches, which retail for up to $90, were a bit bigger than a mobile phone and can live for up to 20 years".
Inspections at the mail centres have more than doubled in the past year with the increase in popularity of online shopping, from 50,000 items to up to 130,000 per day.
Of these, up to 1000 packages are intercepted by X-ray or detector dogs as a quarantine risk and full inspections are conducted. In all, up to 1200 items are seized each week.
Mr Christie said about 95 per cent of goods seized at the Clyde Mail Centre - the biggest of four international mail centres around the country - is food or food-based products.
Up to six rare swallows' nests, which can be sold for up to $320 and are prohibited in Australia, are seized each week. An expensive Asian delicacy, the nests are made from dried swallow's saliva and are used to make a prized soup.
Mr Christie said there was also an influx of contraband items in the lead-up to significant festivals and holidays, including St Patrick's Day and the Indian Rakhi festival.
"We've had a lot of shamrocks coming through in the lead-up to St Patrick's Day and many Indians send a friendship bracelet to family that has interwoven seeds or sultanas that pose a serious risk," he said.