Dogs have an incredible sense of smell. And in some cases, it can uncover some serious monkey business.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection dog was just doing its job when it uncovered something strange in a passenger’s luggage at Logan International Airport in Boston.
During the screening of Delta flight 225 from Paris, CBP K9, Buddey sniffed out something unusual in luggage from a traveler returning from Africa — mummified monkeys.
According to reports, the discovery unfolded during routine baggage inspections at the airport.
The passenger, returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo, reported that the luggage contained dried fish. But the passenger couldn’t trick Buddey’s keen sense of smell.
The bag was x-rayed, which indeed revealed the presence of dried fish. But when an officer physically inspected the bag, nine pounds of mummified monkey remains were discovered.
According to Ryan Bissette, a CBP spokesperson, the traveler claimed to have brought the monkeys into the U.S. for his own consumption.
At the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the bodies were marked to be destroyed or returned to France.
Dangers of Bushmeat
While this story certainly has a macabre tone to it, it’s much more than creepy.
Raw or minimally processed meat from wild animals, sometimes referred to as “bushmeat,” is banned in the U.S. because of the threat of disease.
Examples of bushmeat include a variety of wild animals, sich as bats, nonhuman primates (monkeys), cane rats (grasscutters), and duiker (antelope).
“The potential dangers posed by bringing bushmeat into the United States are real. Bushmeat can carry germs that can cause illness, including the Ebola virus,” said Julio Caravia, local port director for Customs and Border Protection.
While all of the luggage was seized and almost 9 pounds (4 kilograms) of bushmeat were marked for destruction by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bissette said that no charges were filed but
