Sharp-nosed beagles discovered bat meat and pork products in a passenger’s luggage at an airport in Thailand.
The dogs, part of the Quarantine and Inspection Canine Unit, detected smoked bat and processed pork at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport serving the capital Bangkok on Nov. 8, Reuters reports.
The meat products were found in a Chinese national’s yellow suitcase originating from Kunming City in China. China is one of several countries considered ‘high-risk’ by Thailand’s Department of Livestock Development (DLD).
Officers on the scene confiscated 5.5 lb. of smoked bats, 5.5 lb. of smoked pork knuckles, and nearly 10 lb. of smoked pork belly.
According to Section 31 of its 2015 Animal Epidemic Act, smuggling animal carcasses is a criminal offence in Thailand, Reuters reports.
Director-general of the DLD, Somchuan Rattanamangkhalanon, said the meat will be tested for diseases before being destroyed according to DLD regulations.
Bats are known hosts of various viruses and pathogens. Reuters reports that bats were previously blamed for the novel coronavirus, initially named 2019-nCov, after it was claimed that the virus originated from a wet market in Wuhan, China. However, it has never been proven that the virus originated from the wet market.
Meanwhile, pigs and pork pork products originating from a country with known cases of African swine fever (ASF) poses a major threat as the disease can be transmitted through pigs and pork products. ASF is harmless to humans and poses no risk to the food supply, but results in high mortality among infected pigs.
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