A US customs and border protection dog detected mummified monkeys at Boston's Logan Airport last month after sniffing out something unusual in luggage from a traveler returning from Africa.
The federal authorities said they are preventing meat that can potentially spread dangerous diseases like the Ebola virus from entering the country.
K-9 Buddey notified officers on January 8 about a passenger's bag that had just arrived on a Delta flight from Paris. According to Customs and Border Protection, the person was returning to the US following a trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The passenger said the bag only had a dried fish inside, and a luggage x-ray confirmed the passenger's claim. However, the agency reported that a physical examination also revealed "the dead and dehydrated bodies of four monkeys."
The customs and border police spokesperson Ryan Bissette reported that the tourist claimed on Sunday that he had brought the monkeys into the US for personal use.
According to The Guardian, eating raw or barely processed meat from wild animals, or "bush meat," is prohibited in the US because of the risk of disease.
"The potential dangers posed by bringing bushmeat into the United States are real," Julio Caravia, local port director for Customs and Border Protection, said. "Bushmeat can carry germs that can cause illness, including the Ebola virus."
The mummified monkeys were found at Logan airport in January. However, it was disclosed to the public on Friday.
Bisette noted that no charges were filed in relation to the discovery of the monkeys. However, the traveler's whole luggage that had visited central Africa was seized, and the approximately 9 pounds (4 kg) of bushmeat were identified for destruction by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Mummified Dolphin Discovered on US Beach
According to Live Science, a strange, skeleton-like dolphin was discovered by South Carolina beachgoers spread out on the sand, where it may have been slowly drying out for months. One expert said the animal might have accidentally become stranded after deliberately beaching itself.
Representatives of the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network (LMMN) posted on Facebook that the organization had received a call on January 14 about a "mummified dolphin" near Hilton Head Island.
LMMN volunteer Amber Kuehn, a marine scientist, and the Hilton Head Island Sea Turtle Patrol coordinator visited the scene to measure and take samples of the skin and teeth before burying the remains on the beach.
Kuehn told Live Science in an email that the dolphin was most likely a common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), measuring about 8 feet (2.4 meters) long. She added that it was unclear how old it was or what sex the dolphin was.
Furthermore, she cleared that it was not mummified, but the dolphin was simply decomposed. However, she said that the level of decomposition was unusually high.
