The Foot...or is it????

It was about two years ago as and friend and I were sitting in the osteology lab at Camosun College doing some preparation for the class we were about to TA. A gunned up uniformed RCMP officer knocked on the lab door and asked to speak to our professor. We ( rather I )  was relieved that the officer was not there to speak to me or ask me to take a walk with him to his car or what not. He proceeded to produce a zip lock bag of the large freezer dimension that had a brown green lump in the bottom and moisture residue on the inside.And when he held it up it was like we were looking through a window and as the officer kind of shook it at us made it seem like it was raining on the inside of the bag. The officer then asked our professor if she could have a look at what was in the bag and tell him "what the Hell is it, and do we have something that I should be concern with?" Well the bag was peeled open and there was this smell that I can only express as something exotic yet familiar, having worked in veterinary hospitals for years one gets to know the smell of decomposition and rotting flesh.
Anyhow .....WOW this one was ripe for the pickin... It was bloated and had what looked like hair of some kind on it. The object of the REEK looked to have been in water for sometime and as there had , in recent months , been human feet washing up on the shores of the Gulf Islands and in and around Vancouver this officer was wanting confirmation on the identification of this particular item. At first glance it certainly had the characteristics of a human foot. The size and shape were on par.  So our professor got out a couple of bamboo skewers and ask my friend and I to have a poke around and see what we thought. As we took a closer look it became apparent that the foot was not human or if it was this person had some how traded toe nails for some serious claws. The bloating of the tissue had covered the claws and for all anyone who came across this it would have looked like a human foot for sure. Our professor gave her conclusion to the officer that indeed this was a bear foot and kindly asked the officer if she could have it. He was relieved and said of course it was of no use to him. My professor gladly took it and placed it outside her office window on the ledge to save anyone who entered her office the aroma of the water logged bear foot.
That was my first foray into the realm of forensic anthropology ( not a big case really) and I loved every stinking minute of it.