This Thursday, March 16, 2017 photo released by the Bannock County Sheriff’s Office shows a cyanide device in Pocatello, Idaho, The cyanide device, called M-44, is spring-activated and shoots poison that is meant to kill predators. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released a statement Friday, March 17, 2017, confirming that workers placed the device that activated Thursday which resulted in the death of a 3-year-old Lab named Casey. Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen says a 14-year-old boy was taken to a hospital to be tested for cyanide poisoning but was not seriously injured and was released. (Bannock County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
POCATELLO, Idaho (AP) — The federal government has admitted negligence and agreed to pay an Idaho family nearly $40,000 to resolve a lawsuit after an M-44 “cyanide bomb” placed near the family’s home exploded, killing the family’s dog and spewing poison on a 14-year-old boy.
Reed Larsen, the Pocatello attorney who represented Mark and Theresa Mansfield and their son, Canyon, in the lawsuit, says the settlement is a victory for the family.
The device, designed to kill coyotes, had been set up on public land near Pocatello by the U.S. Agriculture Department in February 2017. Canyon was out playing with his Labrador Kasey the next month when he accidentally triggered the spring-loaded device.
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