A pack of tiny dead birds was seize by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agriculture specialists at Washington Dulles International Airport from a passenger who came from Beijing.
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According to a release by CBP on its website, the passenger arrived on a flight from Beijing, China last Jan. 27.
During the baggage examination, CBP agriculture specialists discovered a package with pictures of a cat and dog that the passenger said was cat food.
However, when they checked it, it contained a bunch of unknown small dead bids with 2.5 to 3.5 inches in length.
“These dead birds are prohibited from importation to the United States as unprocessed birds pose a potentially significant disease threat to our nation’s poultry industries and more alarmingly to our citizens as potential vectors of avian influenza,” said Casey Durst, Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office.
Durst added that their agriculture specialists continue to exercise extraordinary vigilance every day in their flight to protect the nation’s agricultural and economic prosperity from invasive pests and animal diseases.
The avian products brought in by the traveler were seized on behalf of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and destroyed with incineration, with USDA approval.
CBP agriculture specialists usually seized 4,695 prohibited plant, meat, animal byproduct, and soil during a typical day last year. They also intercepted 314 insect pests at U.S. ports of entry.
.@CBP agriculture specialists at Dulles airport continue to protect our nation’s vital agricultural resources and our economy by intercepting potential animal threats, like those posed by these tiny dead birds from China packaged as “pet food.” Read https://t.co/uJj5o5xfmN pic.twitter.com/xTldZ6G6jM
— CBP Mid-Atlantic (@CBPMidAtlantic) February 10, 2020
