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Bureau finds Doggy a big help at the airport

After 16 months on the job, Doggy has proven to be one of the nation’s most effective civil servants as she blocks travelers from smuggling meat, fresh fruit and living plants into Taiwan.

One of the 27 sniffer dogs working at the country’s international airports, Doggy has earned her keep with an 80 percent detection rate for items that should be quarantined, her trainer Lu Chi-yan (盧梓筠) proudly said yesterday.

Lu said the four-year-old Doggy, the only mixed-breed in the program, was first trained to attend to elderly people because of her mild temperament.

But because she’s also highly energetic and has an insatiable desire for food — key traits needed for sniffer dogs — Doggy was sent to the sniffer dog training center at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, and her career change has been a boon to the nation.

GOOD CATCH

Since starting on the job in June last year, Doggy has frustrated a number of smugglers, Lu said, including a Vietnamese woman married to a Taiwanese who was trying to smuggle meat from her homeland.

The passenger disguised the food as vegetarian ham, but it was still sniffed out by Doggy, said Lu, who works with his four-legged friend as quarantine detectors at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

Most of the 27 sniffer dogs employed by the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine are beagles, a small hound known for its hunting instincts.

BAN

They discover about 30 tonnes of banned meat, fresh agricultural products and animals every year at the customs and cargo centers at international airport gateways.

Beginning on Oct. 1, travelers found trying to smuggle animals and plants, as well as processed meat products and fresh fruit into Taiwan without applying for a clearance, will be subjected to a fine of at least NT$3,000, the bureau said.
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