Alexander Pearson

Deutsche Welle

Police in Bretten in the southern German state of Baden-Württemberg received an alarming phone call on Thursday. An 81-year-old man told them he had found an unexploded World War II bomb in his back garden.

After arriving on the scene, police were suprised to find a 15.7 inch, dark zucchini that, in the officers' own words, "really did look like a bomb."

Concluding vegetable presented no threat to the public or the immediate vicinity, police decided to call off deploying its Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service.

But what had caused the nutritious legume to land in the man's garden?

In a statement, the police said they believe "an unknown person — concerned with independently disposing of the product — might have thrown the zucchini over the garden hedge."

Though World War II ended in 1945, German authorities still occasionally find unexploded bombs throughout the country.

Berlin's Tegel Airport was forced to close in August after the discovery of a Russian-made dud. In March, a major motorway in Dusseldorf was closed after a British bomb was discovered by construction workers.

This article originally appeared on DW.com. Its content was created separately to USA TODAY.