(CNN) - which seems to be a separated human foot in a shoe - perhaps the sixth discovered in Canada 's BC in the past 15 months - was found on a river, the Gendarmerie royale du Canada said Wednesday.
Footwear - a left New Balance running shoe - was found about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday on the south arm of the Fraser River through Richmond, British Columbia, police said.
It was presented to the BC Coroners Service for examination and DNA testing, authorities said.
Before Tuesday, five feet - all in sports shoes - was found in southern British Columbia since August 2007. One, a New Balance shoe, was found May 22 on the Kirkland island. That foot has been determined to belong to a female, authorities said.
The provincial coroners said in July that DNA tests determined that two of five feet - a right foot found Feb. 8 and a left foot found June 16 - all were males, but they said that they don 't know which foot belonged to which.
What was initially seen as a sixth foot inside a shoe running in June, was determined to be a hoax. Authorities have declared a skeleton animal leg was placed in the shoe with a sole and packed with dried seaweed.
"Obviously, because a hoax was perpetrated earlier, then broadly, we want to proceed with caution [Tuesday with the discovery] until we know exactly what we are dealing with," said Constable Annie Linteau, spokesman for the RCMP.
The provincial coroners' service in July said that the five sets of remains found at this point seems to have naturally separated (disarticulated) from the body."
There was no forensic evidence, or a tool or a trauma marks on the remains suggesting that they are separated in any way other than decomposition, the service said.
The authorities are investigating many possibilities about the origin of the feet, including abuse and the chance they might belong to victims of a plane crash. Missing persons files are also under consideration.
Four of five feet discovered between August 2007 and June 2008 were actually in running shoes manufactured between 2003 and 2004, and the other was made in 1999, according to police. Royal Canadian Mounted Police have released photos of shoes, hoping someone can help identify the remains.
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Forget about the feet and shoes for a minute. My question is whatever happened to the bodies the feet belonged to?
