County accepts citrus pest district budget that funds detection dogs to guard against HLB

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors accepted for filing the Imperial County Citrus Pest Control District No. 1 budget on July 22; the district’s budget includes funds to maintain a canine detection program to find Asian citrus psyllid, the insect vector of huanglongbing (HLB).

Jolene Desert, the county agricultural commissioner, introduced representatives from the citrus district and described the district’s recent purchase of two detector dogs and the hiring of a local handler. Curtis Pate, a pest control advisor working with the district, said one of the dogs, Tango, was trained to detect the psyllid’s odor and that dogs are substantially faster than humans in detecting plant pests.

Pate said the program purchased two dogs, retained a local handler (Chris Wells) and bought a vehicle to deploy the dogs around county orchards and packing houses. “These dogs are trained to detect Asian citrus psyllid, which is the vector of the disease we refer to as HLB,” Pate said. “Tango’s better at finding that bug than I am.”

Speakers noted that other California counties have detected the vector or the disease and that keeping the insect and HLB out of Imperial County is a high priority for local citrus growers. The board’s action was to accept the district’s self‑approved budget for filing; the board does not adopt the district budget but records it for the county file.

Supervisors congratulated the district on acquiring a local handler and canine capability and asked staff to return with operating details as the program is deployed.