The BC Coroners Service has confirmed that bone fragments found with a boot on a Vancouver beach this week are non-human in origin.

A forensic anthropologist examined the bones on the morning of Jan. 27, and confirmed that the most likely source of the fragments was a marine mammal of some type.

The bones were found on a dog beach near the Maritime Museum at the foot of Arbutus St. on the south shore of English Bay in Vancouver. A citizen first noticed them shortly after 2 p.m. on Jan. 26 and reported the find to the Vancouver Police Department.

It is not likely that the bones were found near the boot as a deliberate hoax. A more likely possibility is that both bones and boot had been in the water for a substantial period of time and washed up in close proximity to each other.

To date, the BC Coroners Service has made positive identifications on six of the nine human feet found washed up along shorelines in southwestern B.C. in the past 4 1/2 years.

The BC Coroners Service continues to work closely with local police departments and detachments, the BC Police Missing Persons Centre, E-Peregal Task Force and RCMP Behavioural Sciences Group RapidID program in efforts to determine the identity of the remaining three feet.

Contact:

Barb McLintock
Coroner, Strategic Programs
BC Coroners Service
250 356-9253
250 213-5020 (cell)