15 Cats, Large Artillery Shell Found In Storage Unit
SALEM, N.H. -- Authorities confiscated more than a dozen cats living in a storage unit in Salem that also contained an artillery shell.

On Monday, customers of Uncle Bob's Self Storage heard the animals' cries and alerted management. When an animal control officer attempted to retrieve the animals, he found much more, WMUR News 9's Jean Mackin said.

The animal control officer found the cats living in darkness and quickly realized he had another problem in the storage unit: A 3-foot-tall 90-mm artillery shell that fell at his feet.

"Once the shell was discovered, the animal control officer notified Salem police and fire. We came, evacuated the immediate area and called the New Hampshire State Police Bomb Squad," Salem police Capt. Shawn Patten said.

The bomb squad determined the 30-pound shell was not live once it was removed.

Police did not release the name of the man who kept the cats and the inert artillery shell in the storage unit. Police continue to investigate and will later determine if any charges will be pressed.

Police said they believe the cats may have lived in the storage unit for more than two months. The storage unit had been locked because the renter stopped paying for it, according to the owner.

"They were in an enclosed, not-climate controlled, no-light storage unit," said Valorie Hayes, from the Salem Animal Rescue League. "The best part of it is they're with us now. So, they'll get healthcare, food. Even though it's heartbreaking, we're happy they're with us tonight."

The cats are not available for adoption because the case remains ongoing and the animals need medical care. The Salem Animal Rescue League is accepting donations to help pay for the animals' care.

Live Shell From Civil War Era Detonated
Bomb experts from the U.S. Army successfully detonated what was believed to be a live Civil War-era shell found in Camden County this week, announced Camden County Sheriff John Page. The device was found in a vehicle headed for recycling, Page said in a news release. The recycling business near Linn Creek contacted Chief of Police Less Harsh, who contacted Page's office. Officials from the State Fire Marshal's office X-rayed the item and determined it was live. Army officials at Fort Leonard Wood determined the item was probably a Schenkl Shell, and that it was unstable. The Army's Explosive Ordinance Division detonated the shell.
Page stressed that if people find items of this nature they should leave them in place, contact law enforcement or the fire department. Under no circumstances should an untrained person handle the item.
"They are 'live' items until determined to be otherwise," Page said. "Experts should be the only personnel to handle any items of this nature."

Thousands of WWII bombs uncovered in Köthen

Published: 15 Oct 08 12:02 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/14915/20081015/

More than 2,100 bombs from World War II have been found on the outskirts of Köthen during a routine building site review, police in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt reported on Wednesday.

The find is the biggest in Germany this year, the state’s military ordnance disposal service said. The German bombs, ranging is size from one to 250 kilogrammes, appear to have been buried on the edge of an airfield at the end of the Second World War along with several pipes to launch rocket propelled grenade and bits of artillery.

The ordnance disposal team was able to transport the bombs to their facilities where the larger pieces will be detonated on Wednesday afternoon.

More than 60 years after the end of World War II, weapons recovery remains an important task for police and private companies throughout Germany. Allied forces dropped more than 2.7 million tonnes of explosives across Germany during the war. Some of the ordnance did not explode and has become increasingly dangerous with time and corrosion.

Another major ordnance find cropped up on the Baltic Sea coast last month when municipal workers spotted a four-metre long (12-foot) piece of a World War II era torpedo near the Timmendorf beach.

Entire neighbourhoods are frequently evacuated for bomb removal, and most are defused without incident. Construction and road workers are trained to call emergency services the moment they suspect they've found unexploded ordnance, but accidents still occasionally happen.

People are periodically killed when they stumble upon old war explosives around the country. In 1994, three construction workers were killed and eight bystanders injured when an unexpected bomb detonated, tearing through nearby buildings and cars in Berlin. In 2006, a road worker was killed near Frankfurt when his excavator hit a bomb.

11,000 Evacuated for WWII-era Bomb BERLIN: Firefighters say they have successfully carried out a controlled explosion of a World War II-era bomb in the northeastern German city of Oranienburg.

Oranienburg firefighters say some 11,000 people were evacuated from homes, schools and nursing homes in the area surrounding the bomb.

Construction workers found it last week during work in the city north of Berlin.

Authorities say the bomb was too large to relocate and decided instead to set it off Friday after covering it under several yards (meters) of earth and straw.

More than 140 unexploded bombs from World War II have been found in Oranienburg since 1990. The city was a manufacturing hub under the Nazis and came under heavy fire from the Allies

Electricians find live bomb in wall of Kitchener home
Elderly former owner had forgotten it was there
Posted By GREG MERCER, THE CANADIAN PRESS


Harvey Gleiser would like his bomb back -- but the 86-year-old Kitchener man may have some explaining to do.
Police officers went door to door Tuesday night in Gleiser's old neighbourhood, telling residents they needed to get out and fast.
They even called in the army, such was the concern about a beige device, about 50 centimetres tall, found behind a bedroom wall by a pair of electricians.
Gleiser had forgotten all about the old bomb he had kept as a souvenir, packed away in his attic until one day it fell through an open slot in the floor.
A police explosives expert said the bomb was live, and decided only the military had the expertise to remove it safely.
Residents were allowed back in their homes after several hours, but the army explosive unit was not expected to arrive until this morning.
"I'd forgotten all about it," Gleiser said Tuesday night from his new home.
"Did it cause a commotion?"
Dozens of apartments and homes around the old brick house where Gleiser used to live were evacuated.
The whole operation was complicated because the age of the bomb made it more unstable, said Insp. Greg Lamport of the Waterloo Regional Police.
Electricians Bob Schultz and Murray Bisch, hired by the young couple who recently bought Gleiser's old home, were rewiring a second-floor bedroom when they made the startling discovery.
Bisch pulled the bomb, which weighed about two kilograms, out of the wall, and set it upright.
"It had a tag on it that said 'bomb,' " said Schultz.
"When we saw that, we thought we'd better call 911."
The pair had found strange things in old walls before, including thousands of dollars worth of gold stocks from the 1920s. But nothing like this.
Gleiser said he doesn't recall exactly where he picked it up, but said it was no big deal during the war to take a shell home for your collection.
"If you wanted to take one, you just picked it up and took it," Gleiser said. "I'm a rat packer. So I kept it."
"Tell them I'm not a terrorist," he said.

Link to same story as above, with a couple photos of some pretty low tech bomb removal! : http://news.therecord.com/News/article/453347