Hoax of the severed foot keeps Canadian detectives guessing

The hoaxers were pulling everyone's leg, it seems. A severed human foot that apparently washed up on the beaches of British Columbia – the sixth in recent months – was a grisly prank.

"Human" remains found at the mouth of the Campbell River on Vancouver Island actually consisted of an animal paw mixed with seaweed, stuffed into a sock and inserted into an old adidas trainer.

It was placed on the shoreline as part of a "reprehensible" and "very disrespectful" stunt to deceive the growing ranks of reporters who have descended on Canada's rugged western coast, officials claimed yesterday.

In recent months, five real human feet – all detached at the ankle and wearing trainers – have come ashore along a 60-mile stretch of the Georgia Strait, a long gulf between the mainland and the eastern side of Vancouver Island. The most recent was discovered by two dog walkers on Westham Island on Monday afternoon.

The string of discoveries took a further macabre twist on Wednesday, when it was claimed that a sixth foot had been found by a woman collecting rocks near the tourist town of Campbell River. "I could see two white bones sticking out of a black sneaker," Sandra Malone told the National Post newspaper. "It was definitely severed, like it had been sawn off."

But her discovery turned out to be a crude fake and the culprit could face charges, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said yesterday. "Whoever is responsible for this took the time to ensure that the remains were set up to closely resemble human remains," said Inspector Brendan FitzPatrick. "Due to the nature of these incidents over the past year, many families with missing loved ones are closely watching and wondering if it is their loved one who has been found. The insensitivity shown to the families and victims involved is unbelievable."

However, the hoax will do little to dampen speculation about the source of the previous five severed feet. The string of discoveries began in August, when two size 12 right feet were discovered within a week of each other on the shoreline of the Jedediah and Gabriola islands.

Three subsequent finds came at roughly monthly intervals. Their remarkably similar nature has spawned dozens of competing theories, including Mafia killings, biker gangs, a people-smuggling attempt gone wrong, a boating accident or even the 2004 tsunami.

Four of the five feet belonged to men and the first four were all right feet. None appeared to have been forcibly removed from a body, but that has not stopped some lurid reports from suggesting that a serial-killer with a foot fetish is on the loose.

Experts say that bodies left in salt water for some time will usually break up in the strong ocean currents, with feet and hands often becoming separated. Training shoes will help them to float. However, even without this week's hoax, the spate of discoveries is highly unusual.

Canadian officials, who are treating the investigation as a criminal inquiry, have so far discounted just one potential explanation: a 2005 plane crash in the Georgia Strait, from which four men are still missing. The families of the victims were told yesterday that DNA samples from their loved ones did not match any of the genuine human remains.