On Wednesday, following 40 minutes of floor debate, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Beagle Brigade Act (S. 759) to support U.S. detection dogs.
The Senate passed this measure in November. The bill now goes to the President for his signature.
AKC has been pleased to advocate over several years for passage of this measure to provide permanent funding to support the training of U.S. agricultural detection dogs.
The Beagle Brigade Act provides statutory funding authority for the National Detector Dog Training Center operated by U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA APHIS). The center, located in Newnan, Georgia, trains dogs to inspect passenger baggage, cargo, mailed packages, and vehicles to detect foreign pests and diseases that threaten domestic agriculture and natural resources.
The USDA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection use approximately 120 detector dogs throughout the country. The majority of the USDA’s specially trained dogs who train at the Newnan facility and go on to work at airports and other ports of entry are Beagles, thus the name “Beagle Brigade”.
AKC thanks Congressmen Sanford Bishop and Senate sponsors Warnock, Ernst and Crapo for their leadership on advancing this important measure.
To learn more about the Beagle Brigade, visit https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/news/meet-the-beagle-brigade/.
To learn more about the AKC Detection Dog Task Force, and AKC leadership in the area of protecting and advancing detection and other working dogs, visit www.akc.org/edc or https://www.akcgr.org/issue/78550/.