Superman had Krypto the Wonder Dog and U.S. Border Patrol now has its own version with Chile, the drug-sniffing dog. Chile, is a U.S. Border patrol dog that has earned the title “Wonder Dog” for his drug busts last week.
In just one day, Chile identified over 60 pounds of illegal drugs that were being smuggled into the country. His first sniff out was 44 pounds of marijuana hidden in a vehicle’s attached trailer. Only a few hours later Chile got worked up over a truck carrying tile boxes where 17.5 pounds of pot was found.
Drug sniffing dogs are specially trained by their handlers and are deployed throughout the border and at airports costing the U.S. taxpayer $20,000 for training alone. They are so skilled at sniffing out things the Tennessee Department of Correction last month added dogs, like Chile, to sniff out cell phones which are considered contraband in prison.
A drug-sniffing dog is even credited with bringing down Lil Wayne when it sniffed out cocaine, marijuana and ectasy on the rappers tour bus at a border checkpoint. Unfortunately, many border patrol dogs could be out of work soon with scientists at Georgia Tech developing a hand held “electronic nose” that is portable and inexpensive and able to detect cocaine and marijuana.
However, only man’s best friend can detect small molecules in the part-per-billion. So if Chile loses his border patrol job he can always use that incredible nose to save the environment sniffing out invasive aquatic species and finding bumblebee nests for honey production.
