People travelling into or out of the EU with more than €10,000 in cash must declare it at the border. In Germany, there is a customs dog, a 9-year-old Belgian shephard dog whose name is Aki who has caught 12 people carrying a total of €247,280 at the end of June at Frankfurt international airport, in one week. One customer had €52,000 in a belt bag. All will be convicted and fined for their misdemeanours.
The impressive aspect about this story is the dog’s abilities. We know the dog’s sense of smell is awesome. Apparently, by the way, a bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better which is hard to believe.
Currently, there are trials being conducted on dogs to see whether they can successfully detect the coronavirus infection in people. I know tests been carried out with success but these are ongoing and therefore we must be patient to confirm that sniffer dogs can be used at airports or indeed anywhere else where they are required to check for this zoonotic viral infection.
It is something which could transform our lives pending the successful manufacture of a vaccine. It is not certain that a vaccine will ever be produced which is considered effective. We may, therefore, have to rely on domestic dogs, for example, to help us through these difficult days and years ahead.
