Senators Push for More "Bark" to Keep Foreign Animal Disease Out
Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) want to give more "bark" to U.S. efforts to keep foreign animal disease out of the country. These members of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, introduced legislation, S.3678, the “Beagle Brigade Act of 2022,” on March 2 to authorize USDA’s National Detector Dog Training Center, which trains beagles and other dogs to detect food, plants and other host material that can carry foreign pests and diseases.
“Iowa farmers know the dangers harmful diseases, like highly pathogenic avian influenza and African swine fever, pose to our state’s agriculture sector and how critical it is to ensure we do everything we can to keep them out,” Ernst said in a release. “The Beagle Brigade is a key tool in our nation’s toolbox in detecting these serious diseases before they find their way into the U.S., and we ought to ensure this important program gets the proper backing to continue its work.”
The Beagle Brigade is trained to spot contraband fruits, vegetables and meat products in international passenger baggage, mailed packages and vehicles entering the United States. The bill formally provides congressional authorization and funds for the Newnan, GA, training center, which had been operating under USDA’s general authority over animal and plant health, with funding through user fees.
Currently, there is an assortment of funding sources for the training center. The senators’ new legislation would streamline the funding that supports the training center and ensure it has the proper backing.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which uses the dogs at ports of entry, on a typical day seizes more than 4,600 plants, meat and animal byproducts that must be quarantined and, in most cases, destroyed, NPPC reported in its Capital Update. Foreign diseases and pests carried into the U.S. cost the country $138 billion annually in economic and environmental losses, according to USDA.
Protecting agriculture is good for farmers, the economy and the health of the U.S., the senators explained.
“If we want to continue this important work, Congress needs to pass this bipartisan legislation to give the Beagle Brigade explicit authorization so it can operate for years to come with direct congressional support," Warnock said in a release. "I’m grateful to these hard working dogs and their trainers for their service to Georgia and our country.”
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