Border Staff and Dogs Working to Keep Out Pests

December 18, 2015

Border Staff and Dogs Working to Keep Out Pests Today, 24 new biosecurity detector dog teams (dog and handler) graduated from their training. The goal is to use these teams in order to stop dangerous pests from entering New Zealand. Steve Gilbert, MPI Border Clearance Services Director says, "The new dog teams will give us capacity to screen all arriving international flights for biosecurity risk goods." This process will be a great way of ensuring that the dog teams can greet international cruise ship passengers at regional ports. The frontline biosecurity teams will also utilize MPI's new mobile x-ray machine for scanning baggage carried by international cruise passengers. These teams will be able to monitor the heightened threat of fruit fly-host material arriving in New Zealand. "Although you can never totally eliminate the risk of an unwanted pest or disease entering New Zealand, we feel our border biosecurity defenses are in good shape to deal with what is going to be a very busy summer," Gilbert explains.