US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers inspecting luggage at Washington Dulles International Airport recently discovered an unusual find: three and a half pounds of bat meat, ‘Dankwansere’.
The charred meat was found in the baggage of a passenger from Maryland arriving from Ghana, on April 5, CBP said in a news release.
Bat meat is considered “bushmeat,” which can carry infectious diseases, and is therefore prohibited from entering the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In addition to bat meat, the traveller was also carrying prohibited plants in his luggage, including 12 pounds of tetraplura, popularly known as Prekese, (a flowering plant from West Africa), turkey berries also known as Kwahu Nsusua (yellow-green, pea-sized berries), and eggplants, authorities said.
The plants were seized and destroyed, and the meat was turned over to the CDC for further inspection, the CBP said. The traveller was released.
“Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists play a very challenging frontline role in protecting the public, our nation’s agricultural industries, and our economic vitality every day against the deliberate or accidental introduction of potentially crippling animal diseases that may be carried in passenger baggage,” Daniel Escobedo, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, DC, said in the release.
A bat’s skeleton can be seen in the bottom left of this x-ray image of the traveller’s baggage
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Bushmeat has been linked to the spread of Ebola, as humans may be exposed to the virus when hunting, butchering and eating infected animals, according to the CDC. Bats, in particular, have been suggested as one possible source of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite these concerns, the bushmeat trade continues to grow due to food insecurity, among other issues.