Start of quarantine beagle brigade at Perth airport

31/7/93

Primary Industry Minister Monty House today announced the start of the national quarantine beagle brigade at Perth International Airport.

Mr House said the State and Commonwealth Governments had jointly funded a beagle for Western Australia to enhance quarantine measures to protect the State's agricultural industries from exotic pests and diseases.

He said the beagle brigade, an Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) initiative, was now operating at all major Australian airports.

"Western Australia's beagle, named Floyd, will be used to sniff out a range of high-risk goods such as foodstuffs, plant material, live birds, eggs and reptiles being carried on international flights," Mr House said.

"The addition of the beagle to WA's quarantine operations will increase the effectiveness of our quarantine inspections and raise the profile of quarantine among travellers."

It was hoped that the use of the beagle in the detection of high-risk goods would help travellers become more aware of their obligations to declare or simply not carry plant and animal material.

"The irresponsible actions of travellers in the past have seen the introduction of serious agricultural pests such as Queensland fruit fly and codling moth into WA, where these insects were previously not found," the Minister said.

"These pests have collectively cost WA millions of dollars in massive eradication campaigns and lost income to growers."

Mr House said exotic pests and diseases were easily introduced into WA by travellers carrying goods such as foodstuffs containing the larvae of insects or diseases such as Foot and Mouth, or wooden objects containing termites or borers.

People were often unaware of the existence of these pests and diseases and did not consider the threat to agricultural industries.

The WA beagle, Floyd, was trained for quarantine operations by AQIS and is being handled by a specially trained WA quarantine officer, David Shaw, who has 15 years' experience handling dogs.

As well as operations at Perth International Airport, the beagle and handler would be tested at the domestic airport and at the international mail exchange.

Mr House said the beagle program was an important addition to WA's existing quarantine operations at the international and domestic airports, 24-hour checkpoints at Kununurra and Norseman, the international mail exhange, interstate trains, major ports, and to scientific surveys carried out in the Kimberley under the Northern Australia Quarantine Strategy.

Media contact: Amanda O'Brien 222 9595 or 481 2044