Agriculture in Australia is a pretty big deal. They are very protective of their soil- literally. The Australian government works hard to make sure that no one is bringing any pests or little insects or anything from food that could affect their soil/ their crops. When I first landed in Australia, customs was a very different experience than it is in the US. We had to all line up with our luggage beside us, and dogs came around to sniff all of our suitcases and purses, not for drugs or anything highly illegal, but for any trace of food. Any food brought in must be disposed of in special Quarantine waste bins at the airport. The dog could even smell traces of a sandwich that the lady next to me had in her bag a few hours earlier! So impressive! Accordingly, they do the same with packages that come from overseas. It seems the dogs or X-ray machines caught smell or sight of my yummy snacks and so they had to open up the package to take a look inside. A nice little note said that they found no contraband cookies and nothing was taken out, but they had to inspect it to be sure. They are usually looking for things like fruits and veggies which may carry plant diseases and pests that would be harmful, not usually harmless packaged foods, but I guess to a dog food is food.
Pests are a pretty big issue in Australia. Right now there is actually a severe fruit fly infestation in Queensland (the state that is located in Northeastern Australia). When you cross the borders between states, you are encouraged/required to throw away any fruits to try to reduce the spread of fruit flies. There is another large pest in Queensland that we have actually just been learning about in my Australian Wildlife Biology class, called the Cane Toad. These huge dudes (seriously- look up a picture, they are gigantic) were introduced to Australia by humans from Hawaii in 1935 to try to get rid of the Cane Beetles that were destroying sugar plants. Unfortunately... they did not end up eating the beetles, 5 years later an insecticide was invented to ward off the beetles, the Cane Toads multiplied like crazy and have now not only invaded people's lawns but also spread way down the east coast to New South Wales and across the North to the Kimberly's region, AND these guys are poisonous so many animals native to Australia have been dying as they are fooled into thinking these toads are just normal frog food. Silly humans always meddling...
Well, anyhow, I thought it was pretty interesting. So, in case you were wondering... if you ever come to Australia- leave yo fruit and yo pets and yo toads at home!
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