New Yorkers are speculating as to what exactly washed up on it’s shores on Thursday.

The four legged creature has been deemed many things by commentators; a pig, a rat, a dog or a mutant.

The New York Parks Department insists the animal is a pig bloated by being in the river – but it appears to have toes rather than hooves.

The creature was spotted and photographed by Denise Ginley who was walking under the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan.

Mrs Ginley said: “We were horrified by it and we took some camera phone pictures and then finally we decided to come back with my camera and I got up the courage to climb over the fence and get closer to it.”

And she added: “I definitely agree that the feet are not pig-like at all. No hooves or cloven feet to be seen it definitely had five toes on all its paws, front and back.

But a spokesman for the New York Parks Department insisted: “It was a pig left over from a cookout. We disposed of it. It was a roasted pig we threw it out. We didn’t count its toes, we just threw it out.”