Vespa the black labrador has one of the sharpest and most important noses in Australia.
In 2023, the six-year-old labrador made 739 interceptions at Sydney’s international airport — a record among biosecurity sniffer dogs — and 577 at the Australia Post Sydney Gateway Facility.
For her incredible efforts, Vespa has been awarded the 2024 NSW Service Dog Award at the Sydney Royal Easter show.
“She’s such a wonderful colleague to have,” said Vespa’s handler Perrie Carrett.
“She’s always such a hard worker and brings 100 per cent to what she does every single day.
“I’m very proud of her and all the things that she’s achieved and I’m sure she’ll continue to go on to sniff out more risk materials.”
Keeping foot-and-mouth disease out
On items coming into Australia from overseas, Vespa has detected everything from khapra beetle, African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).
Khapra beetle is one of the world’s most destructive pests for grain producers, African swine fever has an 80-per cent mortality rate in pigs, and FMD is highly contagious among farm animals.
The federal Department of Agriculture said FMD was one of Australia’s largest biosecurity risks, and a major incursion would lead to mass culling and a loss of billions to the economy.
So far, Australia is free of all three diseases, thanks in part to sniffer dogs like Vespa.
“Our dogs have an incredible impact,” Ms Carrett said.
“They’re such a diverse tool for us. They have the ability to be mobile, and they can detect things that many of our other systems, don’t have the reach for.
“So our dogs are able to be deployed across a variety of different settings, which is part of what makes them so valuable.”
Honouring phenomenal pups
The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW [RAS] Canine Hero awards recognise dogs that make a difference in the community.
There are two gongs up for grabs: The service dog award and companion dog award.
The service dog award is open to dogs who have “displayed exemplary commitment while on duty for a service or government organisation”.
RAS councillor Robert Zammitt is part of the committee who chose the companion and service dog winners.
Mr Zammitt said selecting the service dog winner was difficult but Vespa was a stand-out.
“Dogs have this fantastic sense of smell that we don’t understand,” he said.
“She [Vespa] utilised that talent to pick all these things that would cost Australia literally billions of dollars if some of these got through. She stopped all these things from getting into the country.
“If we get foot and mouth in this country, it’ll wipe out our agriculture like you won’t believe.”
The companion dog award “recognises dogs trained for support or assistance work, or even treasured pets, who have demonstrated the canine-human bond in an extraordinary manner”.
The owners and handlers of both dogs are awarded a $1,500 cash prize.
The companion dog and best in the show winner will be announced later Monday afternoon.
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