Police Are Still Warning Dog Owners To Be Careful Of Tennis Ball Bombs


The Fourth of July may be over and the next big fireworks holiday isn’t until the new year, but there is still a danger lurking about. While humans are always warned about the danger of fireworks, there are dogs and other pets can only rely on their owners to help them out. That’s why police are now warning dog owners about a malicious new attack that involves tennis ball bombs.

Whenever there is a holiday that involves fireworks of some kind, it is usually the time that dog owners have to find ways to protect their furry family members. Now, police are letting families know that they should always keep a close eye on their animals, as danger could strike at any time.

Everyone knows that one of the favorite toys of a dog is a tennis ball, as they love to play fetch, but some are proving to be extremely dangerous as people are making homemade bombs out of them.

CBS Sports reported that police were warning people of homemade fireworks and in particular, “tennis ball bombs.” People have been taking the insides of fireworks and shavings of sparklers, putting them inside items such as tennis balls, ping pong balls, and pipes, adding a wick to them, and creating their own little bombs.

The problem with the tennis balls bombs is especially troublesome as people will light the wick and throw them to see them roll down the street or in a yard. Dogs will sometimes run after them and pick them up while still lit and that poses a huge problem.

Jarod Kesner is the public information officer for the Kent Police Department in Washington state, and he issued a warning on the department’s Facebook page.

“Some of them are very effective and dangerous, and some of them don’t work, but you don’t know. People light them, leave them thinking it’s a dud, but who knows what’s happening on the inside. Then a dog comes and picks it up…”

Another issue is that those that build tennis ball bombs may not pick them up if they happen not to explode after the wick is lit. If nothing happens, they will sometimes leave the “dud” where it is, but it still has explosive material inside of it.

This could lead to animals, dogs for instance, picking up the unexploded tennis ball and biting it which could lead to the material to ignite.

[Photo by Daniel Smith/Getty Images]
The Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve are always stressful times for most pet owners, but not all of them.

One man from Atlanta is facing animal cruelty charges after videotaping himself scaring his dog with fireworks while on his porch. It drew a lot of anger and outrage from countless people after being posted online, per WSB-TV and it also led to William Scaffidi facing a charge for not having a license for the dog in Fulton County.

The video was actually taped by Scaffidi’s daughter, and he says that it is “not reflective of me at all.”

It may seem quite silly and weird to some, but the tennis ball bombs are an actual threat and something that could truly harm pets and other animals. Dog owners are being given serious warnings by police to constantly check the toys of their pets as one never knows when someone could decide to play a very cruel and harmful joke.

[Photo by Elaine Thompson/AP Images]

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