Police are investigating after a shoe with a foot inside was found on New Zealand beach.

The gruesome discovery was made by a member of the public at Petone Beach, a popular swimming spot outside the capital of Wellington, at around 8am on Saturday. 

Detective sergeant Steve Williamson said local police are not treating the discovery as evidence of a homicide. 

Officers carried out searches of the beach and the surrounding waters over the weekend, with patrol boats and divers still seen in the harbour on Monday.

No further finds have been reported. 

Pathological tests have been conducted on the remains, with formal identification still pending.

Local residents and shop owners told New Zealand press they were ‘disturbed’ by the discovery. 

One person said: ‘We bring our kids down here. You’re not sure if you’re going to find the other one.’

Another added: ‘It’s very unsettling for the community. We have got old ladies who live just beside us and we are quite worried now, what’s next.’

The incident on Petone Beach is not the only case of dismembered feet still encased in footwear mysteriously washing ashore.

Since 2007, more than 20 human feet have been found in sneakers at various locations along the coast of the Salish Sea in the United States and Canada.

One such find was made in 2019 near Everett, Washington, by beachgoing revellers on New Year’s Day.

In many cases, news of these discoveries has led to public concern about the possibility of a killer on the loose. 

But authorities have been able to identify some of the body parts as belonging to victims of accidents or those who have died by suicide.

Experts say that in reality, the strange phenomena likely has more to do with how sea scavengers break down bodies lost at sea.

Karan Raj, an NHS surgeon, explains in a TikTok video that once a body sinks to the ocean bed, scavengers usually start with parts that are already exposed, meaning that the feet can often detach and float to the surface with the person’s shoes.

As modern footwear has become increasingly more buoyant, Raj warns that ‘we could be seeing more severed feet’ washing ashore in the coming years.

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