While walking his trusty sidekick, Casey, a 3-year-old yellow Labrador, Canyon Mansfield stumbled upon something peculiar on the hill located behind his home last week in southeastern Idaho.
Having traversed the area many times prior with his family, Canyon spotted what appeared to be a pipe sticking out of the ground, piquing the interest of both the 14-year-old boy and his dog.
“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.”
That orange gas was cyanide, a highly toxic substance used to control problem wildlife such as possums and coyotes. The toxic gas coated the young boy’s clothing and was sprayed into his left eye, while his dog Casey began to convulse from exposure.
“I look over and see him having a seizure,” Canyon said, holding back tears. “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.”
After washing his eye out with snow, the teenager ran home to seek help from his mother, Theresa. Unfortunately, by the time they returned to the scene, the family pet was dead.
Confused about the device, it took authorities and emergency crews hours to decipher exactly what the in-ground mechanism was. After contact with multiple agencies, it was determined that the sprinkler-like device was an M-44.
Image : Theresa Mansfield
It was later revealed to the family that these gadgets are dispatched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to control coyotes and other predators in the area. A device the boy’s father, Mark Mansfield said they had no idea was anywhere near their home.
“We didn’t know anything about it. No neighborhood notifications and our local authorities didn’t know anything about them,” Mark said. “The sheriff deputies who went up there didn’t even know what a cyanide bomb was.”
While the U.S. Department of Agriculture has released a statement about the incident, the Mansfield family said that as of late last week, no representatives from the department have contacted them personally to apologize.
The young boy, undoubtedly scarred from the traumatic incident pleaded with the department to simply inform residents of these kinds of traps in the interest of public safety.
“If you plant bombs by our house, just tell us,” Canyon said. “By the grace of God I’m still alive.”