A view of Medicine Hat, Alta.'s city hall from across the South Saskatchewan River on May 21, 2004.Darcy Henton/The Canadian Press
A pig carcass that was dropped into the South Saskatchewan River to help police track drowning victims is missing, but the data is not lost.
The RCMP attached a tracking device to the carcass and put it in the river in February to monitor its movements, its temperature and flow rates of the river.
They were trying to determine how far and how quickly a body could travel in the water.
RCMP say the pig carcass stayed at the river bottom until May 25, then started moving — a signal from the tracking device was picked up about 190 kilometres down stream from Saskatoon on June 8.
The tracking equipment and temperature probe were found last week, but police think scavengers in the remote area took the carcass.
Mounties say data from the equipment is still being collected, which may make it easier to find people who are presumed drowned.