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June 19, 2008 at 5:46 PM EDT

A prankster is responsible for a sixth foot that washed on British Columbia shores, a hoax that raised fears among the families of missing persons and prompted the RCMP to launch a separate investigation.

The B.C. Coroner's Service announced Thursday that the foot found on a Vancouver Island beach the day before was not human, but in fact a skeletonized animal paw stuffed inside a sock and a running shoe.

“We have to say that this is a despicable act; we're not going to sit back and let this go,” said RCMP Const. Annie Linteau, who confirmed the prank. “We're now embarking on a whole new investigation, which could involve public mischief charges against the person or persons involved.”

She described the prank as “absolutely unbelievable” and urged people with information to contact police.
Kirsten Stevens and Sally Feast and Darla MacDonald on a beach in Campbell River June 18, 2008 near where another severed foot has been found and Stevens believes the foot could belong to one of their family members who died in a plane crash in 2005. This is the sixth foot to wash up on the B.C. coast in recent months. RCMP say it's a right foot in a Black Adidas running shoe.

Kirsten Stevens and Sally Feast and Darla MacDonald on a beach in Campbell River June 18, 2008 near where another severed foot has been found and Stevens believes the foot could belong to one of their family members who died in a plane crash in 2005. This is the sixth foot to wash up on the B.C. coast in recent months. RCMP say it's a right foot in a Black Adidas running shoe.

“We're talking many families of missing loved ones who are really watching and wondering that every time something is found is it their loved one?”

A woman walking along a beach Wednesday near Campbell River, on Vancouver Island, said she spotted some bones protruding from the shoe.

Authorities believed it was the sixth human foot to wash ashore in the past year.

The first right foot was found Aug. 20 on Jedidiah Island in the Strait of Georgia. On Aug. 26, another right foot was found inside a man's size 12 Reebok sneaker on nearby Gabriola Island.

A third was found in the same area, on the east side of Valdez Island, on Feb. 8.

The fourth foot was found May 22 on Kirkland Island in the Fraser River, only a kilometre away from the site in Ladner where the fifth foot, a size 10 left foot, was found on Monday.

The coroner's service said a forensic pathologist and anthropologist examined the running shoe found on Wednesday and determined a “skeletonised animal paw” had been placed inside the shoe and packed with dried seaweed.

The revelation didn't stop the growing public interest in the story. On websites and around water coolers, the found feet are a hot topic, replete with wild explanations and conspiracy theories.

Organized crime, the mob and maniacs are also up for consideration.

“Methinks that the gangsters have been attempting to provide cement shoes to their victims but are economizing and only doing half of the job,” wrote one wag.

Others muse about a plane crash off the West Coast in which the bodies were never found, while other speculate that they could be illegal immigrants who were stowed away about a vessel that sank off the shores of B.C.

There was a small plane crash in the Gulf Islands west of the B.C. mainland three years ago and the coroner's office has been trying through DNA matches to determine if the floating feet belong to victims of that crash.

So far, investigators have said DNA testing has failed to match with any known samples.