Security dog sniffs out mummified monkeys in airport luggage

Sign up to Simon Calder’s free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts

Get Simon Calder’s Travel email

Airport staff were shocked after a security dog sniffed out something unusual in luggage from a traveler returning from Africa — mummified monkeys.

The passenger returning from a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo reported that the luggage contained dried fish, but an inspection at Boston Logan Airport revealed dead and dehydrated bodies of four monkeys, agents said.

The traveler said he brought the monkeys into the US for his own consumption, Ryan Bissette, a CPB spokesperson, said on Sunday.

Raw or minimally processed meat from wild animals, sometimes referred to as “bushmeat,” is banned in the US because of the threat of disease.

“The potential dangers posed by bringing bushmeat into the United States are real. Bushmeat can carry germs that can cause illness, including the Ebola virus,” said Julio Caravia, local port director for Customs and Border Protection.

It is even thought one or more HIV strains originated from bushmeat hunters in central and western Africa.

The incident happened last month but was made public on Friday.

Bissette said Sunday that no charges were filed but all of the luggage was seized and the nearly 9 pounds (4 kilograms) of bushmeat were marked for destruction by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Earlier this month A Brazilian woman travelling to Sao Paulo via Panama has been charged with wildlife trafficking after 130 Harlequin frogs were seized from her luggage.

The alleged smuggler was arrested at Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport by authorities on Monday (29 January) after the poisonous animals were discovered packaged inside small film canisters.

Officials described the amphibians, also known as poison-dart frogs, to be in a “dehydrated” and “stressed” condition.