Beagle Brigade

Miami, Florida – Our global economy means that the products in your supermarket are just as likely to come from China as Connecticut.  Agricultural inspections survey only a small percentage of the products that enter the United States from overseas. Many in the business of agriculture say it’s not always clear even where some imported food originates.

U.S. agricultural inspections are carried out in a cooperative effort by several governmental agencies at both the state and federal level.  Customs agents at Miami International Airport are assisted by specially trained dogs. Their job: help keep consumers and U.S. agriculture free from disease and harmful pests.

More than 80 million people arrive in the United States by air each year. With them come hidden dangers; threats never before unleashed on American soil. Fortunately there is an elite team tasked with keeping infiltrators away.
 
Customs agent Ashley Batt leads a small beagle named Ferris through stacks of luggage where a planeload of passengers has just arrived from overseas.
 
"Come here, come on, we’re going to go this way." Ferris is part of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Beagle Brigade. He’s one of more than 80 scent-sniffing dogs and handlers are stationed at international airports across the United States.
  
"What I'm trying to do is give the dog a chance to smell as many bags as possible," says Batt. Agent Batt and Ferris aren't looking for drugs or the tools of terrorism. Ferris is sniffing out fruits, vegetables, plants and meats inside luggage on arriving international flights.

Batt says, "You would be shocked to see how much people will bring in their luggage. We’re finding stuff all the time, and it keeps the job interesting for me, and it keeps the job interesting for the dog."
Outside fruits, vegetables, plants and meats can carry diseases and pests that could do serious damage to American agriculture – citrus canker, for example. Originally from Asia, it's now causing major problems for Florida's citrus growers.
 
Says Agent Jennifer Connors, "The Beagle Brigade has a very important function: to protect the agriculture industry in the United States. They stop numerous dangerous pests from entering into the food chain here in the Unites States. Here at Miami International alone, they’ve intercepted, I believe, seven Mediterranean fruit flies in the last four months. We always tell them, ‘don’t lie about it.’ And a lort of  food is permitted, and it’s better to just fess up. 

Tell us what you have and let us make the determination about what can come in and what’s prohibited. If you lie about it and we find food in your bags, you will be fined $300 for your first offense.  If it happens a second time, it’s $500, and a third time, it’s up to a thousand dollars.

An agent finds a sausage hidden inside a loaf of bread carried by a passenger arriving from Italy. Says Connors, "This person obviously was aware of the regulations, and he went as far as to bake the bread around the meat. He went out of his way to try and hide it from us."

The contraband doesn't end up in the dogs’ food bowls. Connors says it is ground up and incinerated. But before that, inspectors slice apart the fruits and vegetables looking for miniscule invaders.  Another discover today: the larva of a fruit fly.

"That’s important, especially in Florida and California because of the citrus crops," says Connors. "The government has spent over $2 billion to eradicate fruit flies, and it hasn’t happened yet."

The beagles are highly trained sniffing machines. In fact, there is a special school they go to for several weeks of intense training: the USDA National Detector Dog Training Center in Orlando, Florida.
There, Monica Errico is training a young beagle named Mica in "scent association training." 

There’s fruit hidden in one of several cardboard boxes. It’s Mica’s job to figure out which one. When he gets the target, he’ll mark it. If he’s right, he’ll get a reward.

The dogs at the center aren't taught to bark when they find food.  They simply sit down. A treat soon follows. Trainers say beagles are the preferred breed for the job mainly because they aren't intimidating to passengers.

After five weeks of training with boxes, the dogs graduate to luggage. Then the difficult tests begin. Mixed in among banned food in the loaded bags are perfectly legal goods.  A trainer explains, "We also incorporate a lot of fish products, cheese products, and more fish. Some things that have a little bit of a fruit smell to it.  These are things we do not want them to respond to."

After 10 to 13 weeks of schooling in Orlando, Tootsie will join other customs canines. She could go to work at a sea or land port of entry, an international mail facility, or one of 24 international airports.
 
The Department of Agriculture is always looking for "a few good dogs." The Customs and Border Protection Agency has job openings for beagles and beagle-mix dogs to join their "detector dog" program. The animals must be from 1 to 3 years old, be bold, curious and friendly and – easy for the dogs – they must love food.