Four-legged finest hang-up their Quarantine jackets

20723VIC

Three of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service’s (AQIS) detector dogs are hanging up their maroon jackets and retiring from active service.

The retirees — six-year-old Milo and nine-year-old Charlie Brown (both Melbourne Airport-based beagles) and seven-year-old Windsor (an ‘active’ program labrador based at Melbourne’s international mail facility) — have close to 20 years’ combined service between them.

Milo and Charlie Brown have screened more than a million passengers and together have made an estimated 8500 seizures during their years of service.

For her part, Windsor has sniffed in excess of 14.5 million mail items, intercepting 2090 items of quarantine concern and a risk to Australia’s our economically vital rural industries and environment. Key achievements for these dogs include:

• Milo and Charlie Brown seized limes and oranges that were later found to be carrying citrus canker 
• Windsor intercepted a parcel containing live bees — which potentially could have carried exotic pests such as varroa mites
•  described as an ‘unruly dog’ by his previous owners, Charlie Brown made more than 1000 detections of quarantine risk items a year for four consecutive years —10 seizures for every 1000 passengers he screened The three veteran detector dogs now go into well-earned retirement: Milo and Windsor have been adopted by members of the Detector Dog Unit, while for Charlie Brown home will be a loving family in suburban Melbourne.