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More testing planned for foot
Foot found in Spotsylvania County landfill will be tested to determine the speciesDate published: 2/14/2007 BY BILL FREEHLING
MORE PHOTOS: Click here to view more images of the foot.
The mystery foot found in a Spotsylvania County landfill will undergo further scientific testing, authorities said yesterday. Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard Smith said he will send the now-famous foot to an anthropologist after the state medical examiner's office returns it to him. Smith did not divulge who would test the left foot, but he said he has begun the process of choosing an appropriate location for the forensic examination. Smith said he got about 20 calls yesterday from organizations all around the country looking for more information about the 8-inch-long appendage. Some said they thought the foot--found Saturday afternoon at the Livingston Landfill by workers cleaning the treads of a bulldozer--was an orangutan. Others said it was a chimp. Several cast their vote for Bigfoot. Smith said he got a call from a local taxidermist who said it's the hind foot of a bear. Many people who contacted The Free Lance-Star also thought it was likely a bear foot. The foot was hairless when found, and it had been sawed off cleanly. "At this point anything is possible," Smith said. Authorities at first thought it was a human foot. Searchers spent all day Sunday sifting through 127 tons of trash looking for a body. That search was called off Monday morning after the state medical examiner's office concluded it was an apelike species. But several experts on primates around the country said the foot did not resemble an ape. Smith said he's not sure when the foot will return to his office. He said authorities do not believe it's a human foot. They're testing it to collect evidence for a possible future animal-cruelty case, he said. They also want to have answers for the many people calling in. "We are curious exactly what species it is and how it got there," Smith said. Smith said Spotsylvania County will not incur any costs testing the foot. Bill Freehling: 540/374-
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