Shannon Latimer was shocked to find a live 5-kilogram military aircraft practice bomb from the 1940s on his property recently.
Latimer found the rusted Second World War weapon on Wednesday while walking his rural Barons, Alta. property to check its fences.
“I’ve walked through it (the field) a million times. I stepped in the right place, I guess,” he told the Calgary Herald.
“I just started digging and pulled it out. Once I got it out, I realized it wasn’t a good thing.”
Officers from the local Royal Canadian Mounted Police called in bomb experts from Canadian Forces Base Suffield, near Medicine Hat, to examine the device.
The bomb was about half a metre long, and was likely dropped during target practice training exercises carried out by the No. 8 Bombing and Gunnery School in Lethbridge, Alta.
An expert says that while the bomb wasn’t designed as an explosive, it was still potentially dangerous due to the power required to emit the signalling smoke.
Officials removed the bomb to be detonated safely at CFB Suffield.