Dog digs up torpedo-shaped device — then owner ‘quickly realized what it was,’ cops say

When a dog unearthed a rusty metal item in the backyard of a Florida home, the owner went to check it out — then told everyone to get inside, police said.

His dog had dug up an old military bomb.

On March 20, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of an unexploded military weapon in a home’s backyard, the agency said in a police report.

The man who reported the bomb said it “had fins in the back, had rusted metal and it was shaped like a torpedo,” an officer documented in the report.

The dog pulled the item out of the ground behind a shed, and when the man investigated, he “quickly realized what it was,” he told police.

“You couldn’t tell what it was until you started pulling it up,” the man told WJAX. “Once I got it halfway out, I was like ’oh, I know what this is, let me gently put this back down.’”

He took photos of the item, which were sent out to other units arriving on the scene, police said.

Due to the level of decay, the officer believed the bomb had been buried in the ground for a long time.

Authorities evacuated neighbors close to the home’s property, then the hazardous device unit removed the bomb from the area, according to police.

This story was originally published March 25, 2024 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Dog digs up torpedo-shaped device — then owner ‘quickly realized what it was,’ cops say."