A bag stuffed with dozens of dead birds has been confiscated from a passenger travelling from China into an airport near Washington DC.
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Why could anyone possibly need to take dead birds from China into the US? Some kind of biological weapon? Chinese airplane food? Maybe something coronavirus-related? US Customs were wracking their brains because it’s definitely a suspicious item to find on a passenger considering the discourse right now.
Well, turns out these are actually just packages of dead birds for cute little kitty cats. Still, not really helping to quell the paranoia around Chinese people on public transport when you decide to bring a bag full of dead Chinese birds on a damn plane!
As to why the bag was confiscated once they determined it was only cat food:
The birds from China are prohibited for import due to the potential threat of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The avian products were seized on behalf of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and destroyed by incineration, with USDA approval.
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,” said Casey Durst, Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office. “Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists continue to exercise extraordinary vigilance every day in their fight to protect our nation’s agricultural and economic prosperity from invasive pests and animal diseases.
There is one more terrifying scenario – what if this passenger is some jokester who likes to go around putting dead birds in people’s Tesco salads? Never forget.
[h/t Independent]
