Dog digs up unexploded grenade in backyard

Photo / NZPA

When Sean McDermott rang his boss to say he'd be late back from lunch today because his dog had dug up an unexploded grenade in his backyard, nobody believed him.

The Gisborne man could only convince his workmates after showing them a photo of the explosive.

"Even my wife, who wasn't at home at the time, didn't believe me," he told NZPA.

A bomb specialist from Trentham Army Camp, north of Wellington, is now on his way to the Northcote Road property to disable the corroded grenade that is sitting in Mr McDermott's laundry.

The drama unfolded when Mr McDermott arrived home from work about midday and discovered his dog Duke playing with a mud-covered metal object.

"I took it inside to clean it up a bit and realised it had the ceramic outer of a grenade."

He said part of the object was missing, but it still had the detonator in place.

An extensive history of watching movies helped him to work out what the device was, he said.

Even though police said Mr McDermott and his wife could stay in the house, but away from the laundry, they were both staying clear of the property until the bomb expert had disabled the grenade.

If it was a fully intact weapon, it had a "kill radius" of 25m, but it could still do nasty damage to anyone standing too close, he said.

"But the chances of it exploding are quite low," he said.

Mr McDermott said he was able to relax a little better once he knew his insurance would cover any damage.

"It took an hour and a half to get an answer as to whether my home would be covered because how often does it happen?"

Mr McDermott said he was very interested to know which era it was from and how it came to be resting in his backyard.

He was also interested to see what else Duke would be digging up next.

- NZPA