Cyanide Bomb

The Idaho State Journal has reported that a 14-year-old Pocatello boy who was walking the family dog on a hill close to his home watched his dog die from a cyanide poison bomb that blew up accidentally. The boy's mother, said when it exploded, the boy was knocked onto his back and the dog was killed.

How could such a thing happen? The Bannock County Sheriff's Office said the bomb was placed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services as a predator control device. The target of these trigger activated cyanide bombs is the coyote population which preys on local livestock. The M-44 bomb releases a burst of cyanide when activated. Wildlife Services acknowledged the dog's death in a written statement. "Wildlife Services is completing a thorough review of the circumstances of this incident and will work to review our operating procedures to determine whether improvements can be made to reduce the likelihood of similar occurrences happening in the future," said the statement from a USDA spokesman.

The agency, which handles predator trapping in Idaho and other states, removed other M-44 cyanide bombs in that same area, the spokesman said.

The dog's death was the first unintentional killing involving the devices in Idaho since 2014, the spokesman said.