Police examining remains found on Saddleworth Moor said they belonged to the carcass of a dead sheep.
The discovery of bones shortly before 1pm led to frenzied media interest in the area, where Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley buried their victims.
Child victim Keith Bennett is still buried in an unknown grave on the Moors despite police searches for the past four decades.
The discovery on the moors straddling Greater Manchester and Yorkshire led to initial hopes Keith's final resting place had been found.
An area of the Moors, just over the Yorkshire border, was treated as a crime scene with forensic experts examining an area cordoned off by police tape.
Reporters, TV crews and photographers descended on the scene amid unfounded speculation the remains may be human - and could be that of Keith Bennett. But just after 8pm West Yorkshire Police confirmed the remains were not human.
A spokeswoman said: "We can now confirm that the remains are that of a sheep and the scene is now closed."
West Yorkshire police said they were called around 1pm to reports of remains found at Wessenden Head Road on Saddleworth Moor, near Huddersfield.
David Kirwan, the solicitor acting for Keith's mother Winnie Johnson, said police had not been in touch about any discovery. Keith, 12, was murdered in 1964 by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, one of five of their young victims.
Mrs Bennett is understood to have been overcome with emotion at her home in Manchester after the initial reports that the remains were human. The new information from police means Mrs Bennett's long wait to find her son's body continues.
