An RCMP dive team had some bones to pick in Nanaimo River this week.
Police were called in to investigate Thursday after the bones were spotted near the Cedar Road bridge.
“We will, from time to time, be called in to assist with bones being found in or near waterways,” said Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman. “As was the case here, they were determined to have originated from a large animal, possibly an elk or deer.”
The dive team retrieved the bones for analysis and to clear them from the river to avoid repeat calls to the area.
Conservation officers were called to investigate in the same area in February of 2013 when dozens of deer carcasses were dumped, leaving the river bottom littered with heavily decomposed remains.
Stuart Bates, conservation officer with the Ministry of Environment, said those remains were from wild deer that appeared to have been harvested by hunters.
The area under the Cedar Road bridge is one of the most popular swimming areas along the Nanaimo River.
Police did not say if the remains recovered Thursday were dumped in the river or ended up there naturally.