Traveler hid dead birds from China in luggage and said they were cat food, feds say

A traveler was planning to bring a small package of tiny dead birds from China as cat food, but U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials stepped in.

Agricultural specialists seized a packet of small dead birds that was in a traveler’s luggage at the Washington Dulles International Airport, CBP said in a news release.

The traveler was coming from Beijing on Jan. 27 and was on the way to a final destination in Maryland, according to the news release. The passenger said the package of 2.5 to 3.5-inch birds was cat food, and the package had pictures of a dog and a cat on it, the release said.

“These dead birds are prohibited from importation to the United States as unprocessed birds pose a potentially significant disease threat to our nation’s poultry industries and more alarmingly to our citizens as potential vectors of avian influenza,” Casey Durst, director of field operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office, said in the news release.

The birds were set on fire with the Department of Agriculture’s approval, CBP said.

“Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists protect our nation’s agricultural industries from a variety of potential threats every day, including from highly pathogenic animal diseases that threaten our nation’s economy,” Durst said in the news release. “CBP agriculture specialists continue to exercise extraordinary vigilance in their fight to protect our nation’s agriculture and economic prosperity from invasive pests and animal diseases.”