Perhaps The Only Cute Byproduct Of Bedbug Crisis

Apollo, the bedbug beagle!

Perhaps the only good thing to come out the bedbug epidemic are the adorable bedbug beagles. The pups, who are trained to find the pests via similar techniques for finding drugs or dangerous bombs, can be seen as the warning sign that an office or abode is infested, but upscale department store Bergdorf Goodman has one in its Fifth Avenue location just "to be on the safe side".

Inside Edition says that Apollo the bedbug beagle joined the show to go "undercover (and under covers)" for a report on bedbugs: "Apollo accompanies Inside Edition’s I-Squad undercover team to retail stores throughout the city to determine how widespread the epidemic is." Just this past weekend, Niketown closed over bedbugs. The show broadcasts tomorrow (it's 3 p.m. on WPIX).

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on September 20, 2010 4:36 PM

Comments [rss]

Guest

@PKMKII - The dogs don't bark and the handlers don't give any subtle hints, at least not the one that came into my apartment. They paw at an area, as if digging for something, when they smell bed bug feces.

John L

If only Bloomberg would order a few of these dogs and instead of having his health inspectors going to bars to see if they find ashtrays give the inspectors these dogs and have them inspect for bed bugs in public places and/or wherever there's been a complaint.

PKMKII

I thought those dogs were a scam, and when they bark that they've "found bed bugs," they're really just responding to a subtle cue from the exterminators to bark.