USDA’s Beagle Brigade searches for prohibited ag products at major airports

Dogs have a long history of working in partnership with humans, and building on this partnership, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) use detector dogs as a key tool for screening passengers and cargo to prevent the introduction of harmful plant pests and foreign animal disease from entering the U.S.

About 120 beagles are employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s CBP to sniff out potentially harmful cargo.

The Beagle Brigade is a team of hard-working dogs spread out across 88 major international airports in the U.S.

They are specially trained to use their powerful sense of smell to locate food and other prohibited plant and animal products.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the dogs’ ability to discriminate and target a specific odor, such as an orange or even a live snail, makes them an invaluable tool in detecting prohibited agricultural items hidden from view. 

A trained agriculture dog can scan a piece of luggage for smuggled or forgotten items in mere seconds. 

Agriculture canines

In 1984, the USDA established the Beagle Brigade at the Los Angeles International Airport with one beagle trained to sniff out plants and animal products in luggage and carry-on items arriving on international flights. 

“Beagles and beagle mixes are the preferred breed of dog at the airport because of their keen sense of smell, non-threatening size, high food drive and gentle disposition with the public,” states the CBP website.

In 2000, USDA started using larger dogs outside of the passenger environment by employing Labrador retrievers.

This launched the Border Brigade on the Mexican and Canadian borders and the Cargo Brigade in the CBP cargo inspection facilities at airports and seaports, the website further reads.

USDA transferred approximately 75 canine agricultural inspector teams to the CBP in 2003, and today the agriculture canine program is growing.

The canine teams provide screening at border crossings, preclearance locations, air passenger terminals, cruise terminals, cargo warehouses and mail facilities which process international passengers and commodities. 

All of the detector dogs are adopted from rescue shelters in the U.S. or come to the program through private donations. 

In 2009, the USDA National Detector Dog Training Center (NDDTC) was built near Atlanta to specifically train detector dogs and incorporate environmentally conscious features.

Training

According to CBP, before the selected dogs can start their specialized work, they must be trained and partnered with a CBP agriculture canine officer.

The teams complete a three- to six-month CBP agriculture specialist canine training at the NDDTC and continue training at the team’s home port to maintain their skills. 

“Depending on the working environment, the dogs are trained to give either a passive or sitting response or an active response by pawing to indicate the presence of an agricultural product,” the CBP website states. “Regardless of the behavioral response, dog treats and positive praise from their handler is the reward that increases their proficiency.”

Reducing risks

According to the USDA, the Beagle Brigade program averages around 75,000 seizures of prohibited agricultural products annually.

The Beagle Brigade serves as the first line of defense for early detection at the nation’s ports of entries and is critical in keeping foreign animal diseases, like African swine fever (ASF), out of the U.S.

Experienced beagles have a 90 percent success rate and can recognize almost 50 distinct smells, states the CBP.

Throughout the day, these vigilant pups sniff out a variety of potential agricultural hazards which threaten the health and safety of both people and the environment. 

Detector dogs find everything from illegal bush meats to exotic plants and soil and even exotic birds people try to smuggle into the country.

One of the most exceptional examples of a beagle intercepting pork occurred at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2018 after the outbreak of ASF in China.

ASF is a contagious and deadly virus infecting pigs and can be present in foods made from pork.

People can spread the disease by bringing pork or pork products with them when they travel from a country where ASF exists.

“ASF hasn’t reached the U.S., but if it does, an outbreak could be devastating to our farmers, food supply and economy,” reports the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). 

“ASF won’t make meat unsafe to eat, but it will kill millions of pigs we rely on for food,” APHIS continues. “Not only will this create pork shortages and drive-up food prices, it’s also predicted to cost our country billions of dollars and cause thousands of workers to lose their jobs.”

Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.