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 in this category: The service dog award and companion dog award.
The owners and handlers of dogs in both awards are given a $1,500 cash prize.
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 Zammit is part of the committee who chose the companion and service dog winners.
Mr Zammit 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.”
‘A very faithful dog’
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”.
It was given posthumously to Pistol the black and tan kelpie, who passed away at Christmas from natural causes.
He was awarded for his loyalty to owner Peter Stevenson, who Pistol saved from a potentially deadly farm accident.
“I had several other dogs. They all did their own part. One stayed with me and kept the cattle off me … but this particular dog went completely the opposite direction,” Mr Stevenson said.
“A very faithful dog … he left me and went to find a station hand about 3 kilometres from where I was.
“Pistol jumped in the back of the buggy and the station hand turned around and didn’t know what was going on and thought he better come looking for me.”
Warren Greasley has been breeding cattle dogs for nearly four decades and won two titles in this year’s competition, best working dog and best puppy.
“It’s their loyalty and their devotion,” he said.
“They’re very, very loyal and very incredible dogs.”
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