If within the past few years you received a package, roamed a shopping mall, boarded a plane, train, ferry or cruise ship, went to a major sporting event, ran a marathon, attended a concert, gambled at a casino or visited a tourist attraction, chances are a dog made sure it was safe for you to do so.
With terrorists increasingly attacking so-called soft target the demand for detection dogs that can sweep large areas for explosives has soared. So have prices, which can exceed $25,000 for a single dog. Security experts warn that the supply of these dogs is dwindling worldwide and that the United States is especially vulnerable because it relies primarily on brokers who source dogs from Eastern Europe.Technological alternatives have so far proven inadequate. Despite decades of trying, researchers have yet to develop a machine as exquisitely sensitive and discerning as a dog’s nose.United State in this case is highly vulnerable because they are the country that are mostly in need of these special type of dogs.
They are competing with buyers from Customs and Border Protection, the State Department, various federal and local law enforcement entities, private security companies, agencies requiring search and rescue dogs, companies in the hospitality industry that need dogs to sniff out bed bugs, health care providers that use dogs to sniff breath, blood and biopsies to make medical diagnoses — and, of course, foreign governments.
With terrorists increasingly attacking so-called soft target the demand for detection dogs that can sweep large areas for explosives has soared. So have prices, which can exceed $25,000 for a single dog. Security experts warn that the supply of these dogs is dwindling worldwide and that the United States is especially vulnerable because it relies primarily on brokers who source dogs from Eastern Europe.Technological alternatives have so far proven inadequate. Despite decades of trying, researchers have yet to develop a machine as exquisitely sensitive and discerning as a dog’s nose.
United State in this case is highly vulnerable because they are the country that are mostly in need of these special type of dogs.They are competing with buyers from Customs and Border Protection, the State Department, various federal and local law enforcement entities, private security companies, agencies requiring search and rescue dogs, companies in the hospitality industry that need dogs to sniff out bed bugs, health care providers that use dogs to sniff breath, blood and biopsies to make medical diagnoses — and, of course, foreign governments.
“The top dogs bred globally go to whoever has the most money, and that’s likely the Chinese and Saudis,” said Scott Thomas, who resigned from the T.S.A. last month after 15 years. For 10 of those years, he oversaw the agency’s breeding program, which was eliminated for budgetary reasons in 2012. The remaining five years, he worked with vendors to procure dogs.
He is now starting his own detection-dog breeding and training consulting business.According to Training Security Administration (T.S.A.) and the Department of Defense, the transactions occur mainly in Germany and the Netherlands, but the dogs come predominantly from former Eastern Bloc countries like Croatia and Romania. The region has a long history of breeding and training working dogs. Competitions that test dogs’ obedience, tracking and protection (bite and hold) capabilities are popular weekend sporting events there, and the furthest thing from the American notion of a dog show characterized by poofy purebreds prancing around a ring.
“The supply of working dogs in Europe is strained from all the demand,” said Erik Wilsson, an animal behaviorist who retired in June from his job managing dog breeding for the Swedish Armed Forces. “The U.S. is buying a lot of dogs and, for sure, you’re not getting the best ones. It’s not about finding the dogs you need — it’s finding the good dogs,” which countries like Germany, he said, are keeping for themselves and breeders in less prosperous countries sell to the highest bidder.
It's why, Dr. Wilsson said, Sweden in 2005 reinstated its military dog-breeding program, which had been disbanded in the ’90s. “The program was brought down because decision makers thought private breeders could do it, but after a couple of years the military and police had huge problems finding high-quality dogs,” he said.
“We are looking for the SEAL team of dogs,” Mr. Thomas said, referring to the Navy’s elite special forces unit.
Source:The New York Times
No comments:
Post a Comment