A foot found in Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood that was at first believed to be from a human isn't real, police now say.

A passerby found the foot on St-Jacques Street near Connaught Avenue at 7:38 a.m. ET and called police. The neighbourhood is close to where Luka Rocco Magnotta lived when he allegedly killed and dismembered Jun Lin.

Montreal police first said they were investigating the discovery of a human foot, which resulted in speculation that there may have been a second similar crime, but just after 9:30 a.m. confirmed the foot wasn't real.

Spokesman Yannick Ouimet said the foot, perhaps a movie prop, appeared so lifelike investigators were called in.

"Police officers on the scene thought it was a foot, so I guess the look was good," said Ouimet. "Obviously not a good joke to make at this time of year."

Last week, a foot and a hand were sent to political parties in Ottawa and this week what appear to be human limbs have been sent to two B.C. schools.