The Labrador made more than 400 detections, 27 of which were African swine fever detections and 27 of which resulted in infringement notices being given.
Ulf gives passengers and their luggage the once-over (a ‘lab test’ as distinct from a ‘cat scan') at Brisbane Airport and Port of Brisbane.
There are currently 42 biosecurity detector dogs working across Australia's international airports, mail facilities and wharves to screen incoming passengers and goods for potential biosecurity risks, including those that carry exotic pests and diseases.
In 2020 the detector dogs intercepted about 13,500 risk items nationally.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said any one of those items could have threatened Australia's $61 billion agricultural industries, the environment and community health.
“Detector dogs are a vital part of Australia’s defence against damaging biosecurity threats,” Mr Littleproud said.
“With detector dogs redeployed to primarily screen the mail pathway in 2020, biosecurity risks at ports without a dog continued to be effectively managed through alternative screening methods.
“The most common items found by the detector dogs in 2020 included seeds and nuts, fruit and meat.
“Some unusual finds included concealed seeds that were taped to the inside of a booklet, brown marmorated stink bugs on an imported forklift and cactus seeds mis-declared as window decorations.
“The detector dogs also detected meat products which could carry a range of exotic diseases including foot and mouth disease, a highly contagious virus disease of animals and one of the most serious livestock diseases.”
A video showing the work of the detector dogs can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTKHAmaZrdM
11°C