Human foot found on Canadian beach

A right foot has been found inside a running shoe on a Canadian beach, the seventh such grisly discovery there in the past two years.

The Royal Canadian Mounted police said two men discovered the foot while walking along the beach in Richmond, British Columbia, on Tuesday evening.

Coroners confirmed that the remains, in a white, size eight and a half running shoe, were human.

Police said there was no evidence that any of the feet had been severed from the bodies, but instead appeared to have broken off through a natural process.

A police spokeswoman appealed for help to identify the latest foot. "A forensic autopsy confirmed [the foot] was human. We've released a picture of the footwear in the hope that a loved one might recognise it," she said.

The first foot, discovered in August 2007, belonged to a dead man whose name was withheld at his family's request. The right foot of a man found on Gabriola Island in the same month remains unidentified, while two feet belonging to one man were found on Valdez and Westham islands the following July.

Two feet found in Richmond in December belonged to the same woman.

Not everyone appears to be taking the discoveries as seriously as the police. A prankster incurred the wrath of locals in June 2008 by stuffing an animal paw in a trainer and leaving it on the beach.

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an expert on ocean currents and drifting objects, said last year that training shoes could often keep separated feet afloat for thousands of miles.However, Kurt Grimm, who teaches earth and ocean science at the University of British Columbia, told the CanWest news agency that the feet were unlikely to have washed in from the Pacific.

People in nearby central Vancouver have come up with an assortment of theories to explain the bizarre phenomenon. Some blame a serial killer or gangs of biker, while others believe the feet could belong to the long-lost victims of a plane crash.

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