Seattle — U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists seized a shipment of yak skulls on
April 30, 2012 at SeaTac International Airport.
While sniffing passenger baggage from a
flight arriving from Japan, CBP agriculture detector canine “Woody” alerted to
a large duffle bag. Canines trained to detect agriculture items are an integral
part of the agriculture inspection program. Beagles, like Woody, and breeds
such as Labradors are selected for use by CBP because of their strong sense of
smell and their gentle nature with people. Their keen ability to sniff out
meats, fruits, and other prohibited agriculture items without the need to open
luggage reduces passenger delays while ensuring that food and agriculture items
that could harbor exotic plant pests and foreign animal diseases are detected.
Upon inspection of the bag alerted to by
Woody, four yak skulls were discovered. The yak, Bos grunniens, is a large
long-haired wild or domesticated ox native to Tibet and adjacent high elevation
areas of central Asia. The owner of the duffle bag stated that he had found two
of the skulls while hiking in Tibet and purchased the other two in a nearby
village store. The two skulls found while hiking still had dried hide and flesh
attached. The skulls were seized and ultimately destroyed to prevent the introduction
of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease into the United States.
According to USDA, foot-and-mouth
disease is a highly contagious viral disease of cattle and swine that has been
eradicated in the United States since 1929. This disease causes the infected
animals to have fevers and blister-like lesions over its body, resulting in a
severe loss in meat and milk production. Outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in
Europe have spread quickly and resulted in the loss of millions of cattle and billions
of dollars in economic loss. A foot-and-mouth outbreak in the United States
could devastate the U.S. livestock industry with the potential for millions of
livestock being destroyed.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged
with the management, control, and protection of our Nation's borders at and
between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and
terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
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