Sputnik helps save USA’s
agriculture from invaders

In the case of Sputnik, his partner from the beginning has been Cresandra Anderson, an agriculture specialist canine officer for Customs and Border Protection.

Next time you enter the baggage claim area of the international arrivals building at George Bush IAH don’t be surprised to find a beagle named Sputnik sniffing through your luggage. This friendly canine is part of a four-member canine team at IAH – three beagles for the inspection of passenger aircraft and one Labrador retriever for cargo aircraft – they help the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspect and prevent the entry of plant and animal diseases, as well as certain insects, into the nation’s food supply.

As a result of the diverse and demanding challenges facing the country’s transportation industry today, CBP’s Canine Enforcement Program now includes four-legged agents like Sputnik. Three years ago, the United States Customs Service, the US Border Patrol, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and part of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture merged into the newly created US Customs and Border Protection.

For Sputnik and Cresandra Anderson, sniffing out threats is all in a day's work

Before they can become a part of this elite team, however, the dogs must prove they are up for the challenge by passing a series of physically-intensive exercises. Once they have proven themselves, the canines can then begin their training. The preparation for dogs like Sputnik begins with the assignment of a CBP officer to them. This individual will work one-on-one with the canine and train them from the ground up.

During their training, these canines are taught to alert their human counterparts when they sniff five primary odors: apple, citrus, mango, pork and beef. Plants and flowers are also at the top of the dogs’ target items list. These target items are foreign to the United States and may contain certain diseases and insects that are not currently present in the country. The function of CBP is to prevent these potentially dangerous items from entering the country and, by the same token, to prevent foreign items from the US entering other countries.

Meats can carry livestock diseases, such as swine fever and mad cow disease that can kill American livestock. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, can carry insects or diseases, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly or citrus canker, which can wipe out hundreds of acres of the US’s agriculture. Non-target items such as chocolate, chicken, cheese, bread, sweets, perfumes and prescription pills are also identified by smell for the animals so that they can become familiar with them as well. With snouts 220 million scent-receptors-strong, beagles like Sputnik are able to detect odors through layers of clothes, plastics and bags.

“He’s always eager to work,” Anderson said of her four-legged-friend. “He doesn’t know how to sit and stay still; he has to be working.”

Full of energy, he keeps on going, making his way around the carousel. After a contraband item is found, it is destroyed. In a passenger environment, the CBP officer will simply take the item from the carry-on bag and put it in a designated quarantine bin located throughout the baggage claim area. If an item is believed to be in checked luggage, the passenger is taken to a room where their luggage is further inspected. If anything is found, the item is seized and also put in a quarantine bin. At the end of the night, all the bins with confiscated items are rounded up and discarded; the meats are incinerated. In the cargo environment, the items are fumigated, returned to their port of departure and/or destroyed.

The work of beagles and their officers, however, is never done. In order to keep the dogs well trained, mock bags with target items are put out each day to make sure the beagles can detect them. Each year, both the canine and their human partner must undergo a yearly evaluation - if one member of the team does not pass, they can no longer work the floor.

For Mark Mancuso, deputy director of public safety and technology for the Houston Airport System, the work these hounds perform is indispensable. “Customs and Border Protection provide a valuable service to the United States in a number of ways,” he said. “One of the most important, but least recognized responsibilities is that of preventing contaminated or infested fruits and other agricultural products from entering the country. The ability of these dogs and their handler’s interpretation of the signals given are truly amazing to watch.”

What makes these dogs more important is the fact that they are protected by federal law. In 2000, when a working beagle was maliciously kicked by an airport passenger during a routine luggage check, Congress took action to protect these working canines. With the formation of crop protection legislation in the 106th Congress, House Agriculture Committee members took the opportunity to insert the “Barney Bill” – named after the assaulted beagle. Under the law, anyone interfering or intentionally harming one of these canines faces up to a $10,000 fine. - Reprinted with permission from the Houston Airport SystemCaptions: