Montreal  - The sixth human foot that washed ashore Wednesday on the Canadian Pacific coast in British Columbia was a despicable" hoax, investigators announced Thursday.

The foot found on a Vancouver Island beach was not human but an animal paw stuffed inside a sock and a size 10 running shoe, British Columbia's coroner's service announced Thursday.

"The coroners service, a forensic pathologist and an anthropologist have all examined the shoe and remains, and determined a skeletonized animal paw was inserted into the shoe with a sock and packed with dried seaweed," the coroners service said in a statement.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadas federal police force, said it has launched a separate investigation into the prank.

"This is a despicable act," said RCMP Constable Annie Linteau. We're not going to sit back and let this go. We're now embarking on a whole new investigation, which could involve public mischief charges against the person or persons involved."

Linteau said families of missing people, some of whom have been contacted for samples of DNA in the hope of identifying the remains, have been particularly distressed by the hoax.

"We're talking to many families of missing loved ones who are really watching and wondering that every time something is found, is it their loved one?" said Lanteau.

Despite the hoax, there remains a mystery with five confirmed human feet that have washed up on beaches in the last year on the Strait of Georgia.

The fifth foot was found floating Monday morning off Westham Island. Police haven't said whether the left foot belonged to a man or a woman.

A womans right foot was found on May 22 on the uninhabited Kirkland Island in the Fraser River, only a few kilometres from the site of the fifth macabre discovery.

In August 2007, two feet were discovered on Gabriola and Jedediah islands and, in February 2008, a foot was found on Valdes Island. All three belonged to men. (dpa)