Beagles (and pigs) join the Customs

Press, 2 April 1985, Page 17

Beagles (and pigs) join the Customs

By

JOY ASCHENBACH,

National

Geographic News Service

Lufthansa flight 452 from Frankfurt touches down on United States soil. This time a new breed of customs inspector is waiting to scrutinise passengers — a supernosed Government beagle. Dogs have been on duty at airports for years, sniffing out narcotics and explosives; now, for the first time, four-legged sleuths are on the trail of contraband fruit and meat. Just one whiff of a suspicious smell from a suitcase, and the green-jacketed “U.S. Agriculture” beagle sits down beside the bag to signal its handler on the other end of the leash to tag the piece for quarantine, and possible seizure of the food inside.

The Department of Agriculture’s K-9 Baggage Inspection programme, which began on an experimental basis in mid-1984 at the Los Angeles and San Francisco international airports, has expanded to the East Coast this year and will eventually be introduced to about 20 of the nation’s international terminals.

“The dogs love the work. They’re eager to come to get their salary. They earn small treats, food rewards when they sit down beside a bag,” says Mike Simon, national programme co-ordinator and handler of 4-year-old “Lady,” whose beat is the San Francisco airport. Lady and her counterpart in Los Angeles, two-year-old Bucky, so far have about a 60 per cent success rate in picking out baggage that contains illegal food, which may be infested with plant and animal pests and diseases. They are credited with alerting inspectors to search bags from some European flights that had not previously been considered likely candidate for contraband.

On her best day, Lady was responsible for 25 seizures of prohibited foods from nine flights. She alerted inspectors to a bag from Thailand that was found to contain oranges with infectious citrus canker. Also to her credit are

sausages from Germany, dried duck kidneys from Hong Kong, apples from Britain, mangoes from the Philippines, and starfruit from Taiwan.

Trained like Bucky to respond to four scents — beef, pork, citrus, and mango — Lady has increased her skills on the job to 30 different fleshy fruits. Bucky has detected food in a passenger’s briefcase that looked brand new and that inspectors would not have suspected, says his handler, Jim Webber. “The dogs have broken the typical profile of persons likely to be smuggling food,” he adds. Why beagles? They are a breed with an extraordinary sense of smell, calm disposition, lots of stamina, and a non-threatening, puppy-like nature. One of the most popular pet dogs in the United States, these hounds also have an excellent reputation in the detection field, sniffing out bombs and narcotics for the military and termites for private industry. Because they are raised in packs, beagles are not bothered by

the commotion and confusion typical of most airports’ international arrivals sections. “Bucky has had his tail stepped on and run over by baggage carts. Bags have even fallen off carts on top of him,” his handler says. As hunting dogs, beagles “have a natural instinct to run for two days after a rabbit. We are channelling this instinct,” explains Mike Simon. “The dogs are constantly in motion. They walk among passengers waiting at the baggage carousels, and up and down the customs lines.” They are able to cover several miles in their eight-hour shift. To become U.S.D.A. beagle, a dog must undergo 12 weeks of “military” training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. On the job, the working dog’s day begins without breakfast. This makes him eager to identify suspicious bags and get the treats. Before each shift, the dogs are

“primed” with U.S.D.A.-planted suitcases, one of which may contain a sausage. They patrol for three or five hours per shift, taking breaks each hour. After a day’s or night’s work, they get dinner back at the kennel. After five to 10 years on the job, they will retire — as somebody’s pet. Although the beagles are trained to sniff suitcases, they also have detected food in carry-on bags, purses, and on the passengers themselves. When they miss, it is usually because they mistake fruitflavoured candy for the real thing, fish for meat, or pick up an “old scent,” of an apple that had been in the bag a day or two ago or had been eaten on the plane. “The candy is a confusion that we may never overcome,” Simon says. The Agriculture Department turned to the dogs because "we’re having trouble getting into all the

bags we’d like, to,” explains Gary Snyder, of U.S.D.A.’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. “Thqre are more and more travellers, and less and less manpower, and we are still missing a lot of stuff.”

The latest U.S.D.A. figures show that about 500,000 pieces of contraband fruit, vegetables, and plants, and about 120,000 units of meat, were confiscated from air travellers. in 1984. Under a new procedure, U.S.D.A. can now fine violators from $25 to $5O on the spot. Both the fines and the beagles are expected to be added deterrent to the smuggling of food. U.S.D.A. officials warn that “just one orange carried by a traveller” may have caused the Mediterranean fruit fly infestation in California in 1981. Travellers do not seem offended by beagles’ sniffing their suitcases. In fact, they appear amused by the lovable dogs or do not notice them at all, Simon says. “One customs officer told me that this was the first time he’d ever taken a sausage away from someone who was laughing.”