Arkansas dog bites the bullet, eating 23 rounds of ammunition

[May 09, 2015]  By Steve Barnes
 
 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - After devouring a television remote, a lawn mower gas filter and bras, Benno, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois dog, outdid himself by consuming nearly two dozen bullets.

“He acted like nothing was wrong until he threw up," Benno’s owner, Larry Brassfield of Mountain Home, Arkansas, said on Friday adding that is when he discovered a nearly three-inch long bullet in the puddle.

Brassfield noticed several 308-caliber rounds missing and rushed Benno to a veterinarian, where x-rays revealed a small arsenal in the animal's stomach in the late April incident.

"My first concern was not an explosion but poisoning," said veterinarian Dr. Sarah Shelton, who feared Benno’s stomach acids would attack the metal to fatal effect.

Shelton removed 16 cartridges from Benno’s stomach and left two in his esophagus rather than prolong the two-hour surgery, correctly calculating that the animal would soon expel them.

In all, the dog had eaten 23 rounds.

She said Benno’s prognosis is “excellent.”

Malinois dogs, which physically resemble German Shepherds, are used as bomb-sniffers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and known for both their intelligence and work ethic, according to Animal Planet.

Benno, meantime, has diligently returned to his old ways. Since his surgery, Brassfield says, Benno has consumed yet another of his wife's bras.

"It’s at least his fourth,” Brassfield said.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Lisa Lambert)

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