A group of wild boars dug up 21 unexploded mortar shells from World War 2 in a forest near the village of Bięcino in northern Poland, local police in Słupsk said on 17 March.

The ordnance has since been removed without injury to people or animals, police said, while warning that such discoveries pose a “threat to health and lives.”

Officers stated that forest rangers had first spotted the shells and reported them to the authorities, who determined that the munitions had been unearthed by the animals. Specialists later confirmed that the mortar rounds dated back to World War 2.

Military sappers were deployed to the site and secured the shells within hours. Officials have not disclosed further details regarding the ammunition’s type or origin.

Discoveries of wartime explosives remain frequent in Poland, which saw intense combat after being invaded by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1939.

The Słupsk region, which was part of Germany before 1945, experienced particularly fierce battles during the war’s final months, during German forces' final attempts to halt the Soviet advance into what was East Prussia back then. Decades later, remnants of the conflict continue to emerge.

In July 2023, construction workers renovating a primary school in central Poland found dozens of unexploded artillery shells from the war, Notes from Poland, a news website, reports. The following month, nearly 14,000 Lublin residents were advised to evacuate while army sappers removed a 250kg aerial bomb uncovered during construction.

Unexploded ordnance is also frequently found in Warsaw, which was nearly completely destroyed in 1944. Despite the gargantuan effort to clean up and rebuild the city, dangerous discoveries happen to this day. 

Sappers in the capital and surrounding areas respond to over 300 call-outs annually, according to Poland’s public broadcaster TVP. The most recent incident in Warsaw was the discovery of an unexploded 75mm anti-tank shell at a construction site for a new housing estate in February.