10/16/2009

News / CBP K9 Sniffs Out Live Snails at Chicago OHare

Chicago — On October 13, at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist canine handler, with the assistance of her canine partner discovered and seized two containers of live snails.


CBP agriculture canine "Shelby" working at the international port of entry alerted on a passenger’s transit bag arriving on a flight from London Heathrow Airport. Upon further inspection, the checked bag was found to contain 1.4 kg of small brown live snails in plastic containers. The snails, a prohibited item for entry into the United States unless accompanied by the proper permits, were seized and are pending species identification by the United States Department of Agriculture.

CBP agriculture canines can detect fruits, vegetables, meats or other prohibited items that may carry animal, pests, or plant diseases entering the United States, intentionally or by accident, which can cause serious damage to America's crops, livestock, pets, environment and economy. Certain species of snails are considered invasive species and CBP agriculture specialists are stationed at the ports of entry throughout the United States to ensure that destructive pests, snails included, are not introduced into our nation’s agriculture.


“Each year, CBP agriculture specialists intercept tens of thousands of actionable pests—those identified through scientific risk assessment and study as being dangerous to the health and safety of U.S. agricultural resources,” said Brian Humphrey, CBP acting director of Field Operations in Chicago. “Detection of prohibited pests is vitally important to prevent the introduction of harmful plant pests and animal diseases from entering the United States food and agriculture supply.”


CBP agricultural specialists have extensive training and experience in agricultural and biological inspection. Their historic mission of preventing the introduction of harmful pests into the United States provides CBP with the expertise to recognize and prevent the entry of organisms that could be used for biological warfare or terrorism.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/10162009.xml

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