What kind of person does this?

[ripcord]

http://www.seattledogspot.com/dog-health-wellness/officials-warn-dog-owners-exploding-tennis-balls/

KOMO-TV reported yesterday that Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms warned Seattle area families and dog owners that abandoned tennis balls they find could be small bombs powerful enough to maim or kill both people and dogs.
KOMO reporter Connie Thompson said officials often see an increase in reports about exploding tennis balls around the 4th of July.
Last February an Everett man found a paper bag of them in the Silver Lake area. And in 2000 a dog in Portland died while playing fetch when a tennis ball that its owner found exploded in its mouth.
At a community meeting last week with Kent police, someone asked how to spot a tennis ball bomb. Here is the response from the Kent Police Department Facebook page:
“A tennis ball bomb is very easy to identify. It is a real tennis ball that has some sort of fuse sticking out of it. The tennis ball could also be completely wrapped in duct tape with a fuse sticking out.”
Seems like there is no end to the methods people invent to injure or kill dogs.

Some people just suck.

[liberalmuse]

1. That's a good question.

Anyone who would do this has to know that a child or animal is likely to be the victim. I'll never understand it. Not in this life or a thousand others.

[REP]

2. 16 years ago, one dog was allegedly killed by one

If they are bombs with fuses, how do they get the dogs to light the fuses?

Sounds like silly season nonsense to me.

[ManiacJoe]

3. Yes, then and now.

[trof]

4. Yep. BS.

[jberryhill]

5. Kinda silly, really

The notion that someone is going to build s booby trapped tennis ball is absurd.

In order to do that, you have to have a vibration trigger which, by itself, is easy.

The tricky part is not having it go off on you. So, you need to place the ball carefully, and then twist or have a switch on two leads that you'd then stuff back into the ball.

That would make it go off as soon as it was moved. If you wanted to have a delay between the first movement and detonation, then you'll have to have a time delay circuit, which could be a capacitor, a resistor, and a threholding comparator which, again by itself isn't that hard.

But you'd also probably want to have a time delay on the arming circuit as well.

Then you have to wire that up with your battery, your explosive, and your igniter, stick it inside a tennis ball, and then wander off and place them, carefully, in various places without being seen, in the hope that someone is going to pick them up at random.

Maybe if someone had a fuse-ignited tennis ball bomb, they could light it and lob it into an area where any of several dogs might pick it up - if the dog was inclined to pick up a ball with a lit fuse burning... but that doesn't sound like a viable plan unless you are prepared to outrun the owner and possibly the owner's other dog.

Seems far fetched.

[REP]

11. It sounds like every other vague, scary story

Once you start thinking about it, it seems more and more absurd.

Although it's a nice that this is bullshit, for the sake of the dogs, but scaring people over bullshit is, well, bullshit.

[jberryhill]

12. It's fireworks season, I guess

Just don't take the Mickey Mouse blotter acid while setting your tennis ball bombs at the instruction of your satanic coven.

[pinboy3niner]

14. Oh sure, NOW you tell me!

[REP]

15. When do we sacrifice the virgins to the black cats?

Unfortunately, most things you hear about cats being abused is true, though it's mostly done by teens playing at being occulty and other assholes.

[Oneironaut]

7. I've heard of tennis balls soaked with poison.

No idea if it's bs like the "needles in Halloween candy" urban legend. Supposedly someone near me's dog died from a poisoned tennis ball, but a - how would they have known it was the tennis ball, and b - would the poison really be effective anymore?

So, meaningless urban legends or truth? I have no idea.

[REP]

10. The only poisoned Halloween candy was a man who murdered his son that way

But now, kids don't trick or treat and X-ray machines are tied up to examine Snickers.

Even the smartest dog is unlikely to be able to light a fuse, even if it guarantees blowing up the vet's office.

[Downwinder]

8. The same type of people who deploy cluster bombs.

[REP]

9. But these are supposed to be bombs that require a fuse to be lit

I know some smart dogs, but asking a dog to light a fuse is a bit much. Most dogs have quit smoking anyway and don't carry lighters. And most dogs won't pick up something that is literally on fire, such as a tennis ball with a lit fuse. I doubt Raytheon is perfecting the one-dog-at-a-time Death Ball and trying it out at unnamed parks.

This scary scary story just sounds like bullshit once it's examined rationally.

[jberryhill]

13. There are some dogs, though....

[REP]

16. He's da bomb; he's not gonna light a bomb

Well, probably.

[csziggy]

24. More likely the tennis balls have to be compressed

So if a dog bites down on it, it explodes.

Snopes:

On 25 November 2000, in Portland, Oregon, a chocolate-colored Labrador named Ivy was killed by an exploding tennis ball. She was being walked that morning by a friend of her owner while her owner was away on a fishing trip. The man came upon a tennis ball wrapped in tape lying in the median strip out front of the dog's home. After kicking at the ball a bit himself, he picked it up, thinking it would make a good toy for Ivy. He carried it with him for about an hour, tossing to Ivy at times so she could fetch it back to him. On one trip, she must have chomped down on her prize harder than usual and thereby triggered the fatal blast. Although her walker was standing less than 7 feet away from her at the time, and the explosion was of sufficient force that folks living four blocks away felt it, the man was apparently uninjured.

<SNIP>

Tennis ball-bombs are nothing new. Investigators said they are usually made by curious teens and young adults "looking for that big bang," using information found on the Internet. They are then abandoned when they don't detonate like they were supposed to.

Because this sort of bomb isn't all that uncommon, folks are cautioned to leave found tennis balls alone, especially those which are wrapped in duct or electrical tape or feel heavier than usual.
http://www.snopes.com/critters/mishaps/tennisball.asp

Emphasis added by me.

[tsites]

17. Tennis ball bombs

Actually the way these bombs are made is to cut off the heads of self-striking matches. Push the heads through a small hole in the tennis ball until the ball is packed tightly with match heads. When you throw the ball at a wall, the compression of the ball causes many of the match heads to ignite causing a chain reaction and an explosion (no fuse necessary). It's not as powerful as one packet with gunpowder, but it's plenty powerful enough to blow a few fingers off if it goes off in your hand. Unfortunately I've seen "science" teachers demonstrate this to their classes.

[jberryhill]

20. Ah!

Now that makes some kind of sense.

[REP]

21. Those I've heard of; different from what was described

“A tennis ball bomb is very easy to identify. It is a real tennis ball that has some sort of fuse sticking out of it. The tennis ball could also be completely wrapped in duct tape with a fuse sticking out."

The match head ones aren't made to target dogs, as the article strongly implies.

[tclambert]

25. Youtube:

[meow2u3]

18. Sounds to me like propaganda

designed to scare people from playing with their dogs. I don't believe that for one minute--at least, not now.

[Whiskeytide]

19. Snopes says ..... It's true! (Really thought this one would be BS)...

... one dog reported dead - in 2000 - but the report says they are more common than you think. Apparently it's a home made firework that is abandoned when it doesn't go off.

Six such bombs reported in 2000 in Portland alone.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/mishaps/tennisball.asp


Odd hobby - and irresponsible as hell to leave 'em laying around.

[REP]

22. Poorly researched for Snopes

See above about match head tennis ball "bombs." One dog 16 years ago is unfortunate, not someone on a dog-killing spree. The article is poorly researched and written and so is the Snopes entry.

[Whiskeytide]

23. Snopes isn't saying someone is on a dog killing spree ...

Apparently some assholes use tennis balls to make home made fireworks. If one doesn't go off, they just abandon it for some hapless dog to find and bite into later.

The OP - and several posters - seemed to think it was a nefarious plan to kill dogs. Nope. But apparently it is a real enough event. Six in Portland in one year - per the city's bomb squad unit - is enough to make you say "damn, really?"