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The amount of items that end up in the lost and found department at Denver International Airport is pretty crazy.
“We get probably around 150 to 200 items a day,” lost and found supervisor Noelle Aguirre told ABC 7 Denver.
Considering the airport served 77,837,917 passengers in 2023 (more than 200,000 people per day – a new record for Denver International Airport) it is easy to see how so many items could become lost.
It’s also pretty easy to understand why there are some very unusual items that pop up in the airport’s lost and found department.
“We probably say like the top five are bags, IDs, glasses and electronics, electronics or Airpods, and jewelry,” Aguirre said.
She also revealed there are a lot of belts (which are rarely claimed), laptops, earrings, and drawers full of drivers licenses.
Then there is the weird stuff, like a circular saw and a battery to a forklift.
Aguirre added that her lost and found department has also collected elk meat, dried fish and shrimp, packages containing human remains, and dogs that were found roaming the parking garage.
While dogs are turned over to animal control and the humans remains go to the county coroner, the rest of the items are only kept for 30 days before being discarded or put up for auction.
Other examples of items that can end up in an airport lost and found were shared in May by Melissa Royle, supervisor of the lost and found department at Salt Lake City International Airport for the past two years.
“We had the taxidermy rat, we’ll get giant bags full of tools, we’ll get bags that have thousands of dollars of cash in them,” she told Fox 13 News. “It all shocked me. Not so much anymore.”
“I always say it’s almost like being a detective here trying to find the right people and reunite people with their stuff,” Royle added.