Beagle Bill's Got A Nose For Detecting Illegal Items

Common scents to Bill might save taxpayers millions of dollars.

The savvy 4-year-old beagle that's on a first-name basis with staffers at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport South Satellite is building an incredible record of uncovering illegal imports.

If you've returned to the airport on an international flight the last two or three years, you've probably met Bill.

He's a member of the Department of Agriculture's Beagle Brigade, those super sleuths trained to detect fruit, vegetables, plants or animal products carried under wraps.

This green-jacketed sniffer logged 84 and 88 percent positive responses in January and February, respectively, resulting in $620 and $395 in penalties.

A positive response is recorded when the dog finds a bag emitting one of 14 target odors it is trained to detect. Those include beef, pork, citrus, apples, bananas, chestnuts, chili peppers, papayas and others. For instance, if it discovers a bag with a banana odor, only to have Lair be told the fruit was eaten hours earlier on the flight, the dog is graded with a positive response, since it's on target as trained.

Bill is one of 14 brigade members who form a first line of defense against costly foreign plant and animal pests and diseases; others work at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Boston.

``They're probably the most cost-effective part of our program,'' says Jerry Levitt, USDA airport supervisor.

A single orange innocently carried into the country in the early 1980s is believed to have been the cause of the Mediterranean fruit-fly outbreak in California, which cost taxpayers $100 million.

I accompanied Bill and Lair for several hours recently. It started slowly - a banana, a decorative flower.

``I have a funny feeling about today,'' said Lair, said while Bill rested beneath his desk. ``You never know what to expect. Some days are slow, others hectic.''

Bill plays no favorites, says Lair. He checks the handbags and luggage of the plane crews as well as the passengers. If they're carrying fruit or nuts, he'll find them.

When a flight arrives, the two move quickly among the passengers, the dog sniffing baggage, on the floor and in shopping carts, for one of the 14 odors.

Upon detecting something, Bill sits down next to the suspect luggage, prompting Lair to open the container and question the passenger about the contents.

Bill is on duty three to four hours daily, working intense 40-minute stints, followed by a short break. ``I can sense when he's getting tired,'' said Lair. ``At that point, I'll try to rest him for a few minutes so he can get recharged.''

In midmorning recently, flights from Thailand and Hong Kong arrived close together. Suddenly, the Customs and USDA inspection area was jammed with passengers, all eager to get through the tedious checkout process.

Bill, leashed to Lair, moved about, sniffing every piece of luggage possible. He worked his way around a giant assortment of boxes belonging to a Thai diplomat bound for Washington, D.C., discovering nothing but yearning to get at other parcels blocked by luggage.

``I smell something,'' Lair said, ``and Bill does, too.'' As Lair coaxed Bill away to check other passengers' bags, you had that feeling the dog wasn't finished with the Thai's goods.

Lair discussed the situation with Levitt, explaining Bill was on to something but he was uncertain what. They contacted Thai personnel and asked that they separate all boxes, providing Bill full access to each.

Bingo! Within seconds, the dog sat alongside seven containers. All were quickly removed from the area, taken to USDA quarters and opened. Six of the seven contained pork sausage illegally brought into the country. The seizure totaled slightly more than 400 pounds, a national record for the program. The previous mark was 50 pounds.

One of his most important discoveries this year was a mango from China containing a fruit fly not known to have been in that country. ``We alerted a lot of authorities as a result of that,'' said Lair.

Since the program began in 1986, Lair is the third handler assigned to Sea-Tac. Lair and Bill began their Sea-Tac duties together in January, although they had worked together at USDA training headquarters in Livermore, Calif., and at San Francisco International Airport for six weeks late last year.

Bill formerly worked with another handler here, but when that person left the program, the dog was returned to Livermore to await a new partner.

Following each work shift, Bill is boarded at a nearby kennel rather than at Lair's home. ``It's a government philosophy,'' said Levitt. ``The government looks at the beagles as working animals, not pets, so it wants them in a boarding environment.''

Dogs are obtained from breeders, humane societies and private owners. Working ages are generally from 1 1/2 to age 10.

Beagles are used because they are small and maneuver the confines of the inspection area well and because they're not intimidating, as larger breeds tend to be.

Because of the incredible success here and at the other airports, look for the USDA to add more dogs to the program. Seattle has applied to borrow a San Francisco beagle during the Goodwill Games this summer, and Levitt hopes to get another full-time team in 1991.

Ranny Green's Pets column appears on Sundays in The Times.

The Landas' Dog News column is on F 8.