When support squirrels and peacocks aren’t making a splash in the headlines, leave it to a traveler to one-up those stories by packing a roasted pig in their luggage.
Yes, you read that correctly — a roasted pig.
Thanks to Hartsfield-Jackson’s 6-year-old rescue pup named Hardy, now a member of the airport’s Agriculture Detector “Beagle Brigade,” the unit was able to sniff out a cooked pig head stowed away in the luggage of a passenger from Ecuador.
Carey Davis, CBP Area Port Director for the Port of Atlanta, told Atlanta’s Fox 5, “Our best defense against destructive pests and animal diseases is to prevent the entry of prohibited agriculture products from entering the United States.” He goes on to say, “This seizure at ATL illustrates the tremendous expertise of our four-legged K-9 partners in protecting the United States.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has strict policies in place that prevents any pork and pork products from other continents to prevent illnesses like foot and mouth disease and swine flu from entering the United States. If you opt to bring items like fruit, vegetables or other food products upon entrance into the country — it is required that you declare those items or you’ll risk an up to a $10,000 fine penalties and fines, and no one has time for that.