Poochie The Golden Retriever To Aid Coast Guard In Cebu
GOLDEN RETRIEVER – Poochie, an 18-month-old golden retriever, will be aiding the Philippine Coast Guard in preventing ASF from entering Cebu.
They are currently tasked to secure the borders of Cebu against the entry of hogs that are suspected to be infected with the African Swine Fever (ASF).
According to Inquirer, formerly an anti-narcotic dog, Poochie will be under the care of the PCG-7 or the Philippine Coast Guard – Central Visayas.
Poochie already finished his one-and-a-half month training for detecting pork and pork products. He is also the first in the Philippines to be trained as a pork-sniffing dog.
He was trained since August after Governor Gwendolyn Garcia formed the ASF Task Force in lieu of the existence of ASF in the Philippines, according to Lieutenant Junior Grade Michael John Encina.
Cebu, as well as Bohol, implemented a pork entry ban from Luzon in light of the confirmed deaths due to the viral disease.
As per the report, Encina said that Poochie will help the Task Force enhance the detection of pork products that will enter via ports, further adding that the dog will be randomly deployed in Cebu and Bohol ports to prevent the illegal entry of Pork from Luzon.
With the training, Poochie is now capable of identifying frozen, processed, canned or raw pork products in a cargo or baggage, 30 more dogs will be trained in pork detection in PCG national headquarters.
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