“Suspicious” Stuffed Pony Blown to Bits Outside Elementary School

There's deputies in Orange County who will never, ever live this down

Does Homeland Security's terror alert system have a Code Glue?

Orange County sure does. 

Charred pavement and bits of plastic are all that remains of a stuffed toy pony found in a culdesac outside an elementary school there after it was blown to bits by a very, very serious bomb squad.

The pony, posthumously identified as a Hasbro "FurReal" toy, was examined by a robot as a possible explosive device while students inside Waterbridge Elementary were placed under a "modified lockdown" and no one was aloud to enter or leave.

In video captured by local news outlets, the robot placed explosives alongside the toy and rolled away as they were detonated, blowing some poor kid's special friend to bits.

Parent at the school noticed the abandoned pony when dropping off children that morning, but found nothing sinister about the toy said to provide "realistic, nurturing animal experiences."

"When I saw it this morning, I thought it was funny," said mom Shanie Lucas, who assumed it had been placed in the street to prevent double parking. "The kids were laughing, the adults were smiling."

But a short time later, someone reported it to deputies, and parents received a text alert about a possible explosive device.

"I was scared at first," parent Heather Mazza told the Orlando Sentinel, "but then when I saw the news, I was like, 'A pony? What?'"

An Orange County Sheriff's spokesman later reported the pony was declared "non-threatening."

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