Parents of a teenage boy are outraged after their son was sprayed by a dangerous cyanide explosive that killed their dog and was planted near their home.
14-year-old Canyon Mansfield was out for a walk with his dog, Casey, on the hill behind their home in Pocatello, Idaho when the shocking accident occurred.
“I see this little pipe that looked like a sprinkler sticking out of the ground,” Canyon told EastIdahoNews.com. “I go over and touch it. Then it makes a pop sound and it spews orange gas everywhere.”
The orange gas sprayed into Canyon’s left eye and on his clothing. He was washing his eye out with some snow on the ground when he realized Casey was in trouble.
“I look over and see him having a seizure,” Canyon said, choking back his emotions. “I ran over and he had these glassy eyes. He couldn’t see me, and he had this red stuff coming out of his mouth.”
Canyon rushed home to get his mom, Theresa, but by the time they returned to their dog, Casey had died.
Theresa called the police and contacted her husband, Mark, who is a medical doctor. Mark tried to resuscitate Casey, but was unsuccessful. It took hours for police and emergency crews to determine that the family had been exposed to the deadly chemical!
It turns out the device was an M-44 – a spring activated trap that releases cyanide and is used to kill predators such as coyotes. The devices are distributed by Wildlife Services, a division of the federal US Department of Agriculture. The traps are sometimes covered in bat or give off a smell that attracts predators. They are spring-loaded so that when they are touched or tugged they explode, releasing the cyanide gas.
The Mansfields have lived in their home nearly 10 years and have never seen M-44s before. Mark said that they had no idea such a trap was near their home or in their neighborhood, nor did their local authorities. “The sheriff deputies who went up there didn’t even know what a cyanide bomb was,” Mark said.
A search around their property actually found a second device, also just a few hundred feet away from their home on their property line.
Wildlife Services has been notified of Casey’s death and released a statement. They said that they have removed the M-44s in the immediate area and are conducting a review of the incident to determine whether improvements can be made to “reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences happening in the future.”
“If you plant bombs by our house, just tell us,” Canyon said after his ordeal. “By the grace of God I’m still alive.”
The family is still shaken from the experience and hope no other family has to go through what they’ve been through. “It kills anything. It almost killed by child and it did kill my dog,” Mark said. “I don’t want it to kill my neighbors.”
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