A traveler recently was fined $1,800 on entry to the airport at Darwin, capital of the Northern Territories, Australia, on return from a holiday in Bali. The passenger had undeclared McDonald’s McMuffins and a ham croissant in his luggage. Currently, Australia is concerned over the possibility of introduction of African swine fever that is present on the Indonesian island of Bali. The illegal importation was detected at the airport by a dog trained to screen hand-luggage and cases on carousels.
In demonstrating the efficiency of detector dogs, the USDA intends expanding the “Beagle Brigade” from the current 180 dogs and their handlers at major, international airports. Press reports indicated that at Dulles Airport, trained beagles have each detected as many as 12 illegal importations each day. With concern over foot and mouth disease, African swine fever and avian influenza, among other exotic diseases, USDA has available a sensitive and cost-effective detection system. Funds expended on expanding the “Beagle Brigade” is justified and should be assigned a priority over frivolous social engineering and projects without any prospect of a return introduced by the USDA. The fact that close to 100,000 illegal importations will be detected by beagles at U.S airports in 2022, suggests that in locations where beagles are not deployed, extensive albeit unintentional illegal importation is taking place at high risk to the livestock industry.