Officials find roasted pig in luggage at Atlanta airport

ATLANTA - U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and their K-9 coworker discovered something unusual when they looked in a checked luggage back at Hartsfield-Jackson: a cooked pig.

Thursday, CPB Agriculture Detector and member of the "Beagle Brigade" Hardy got a smell of something suspicious in the bag of a traveler from Ecuador.

When they examined the bag, officials told FOX 5 they found a roasted pig head in the baggage.

Agents seized and destroyed the pig, which weighed almost 2 pounds, 

“Our best defense against destructive pests and animal diseases is to prevent the entry of prohibited agriculture products from entering the United States,” said Carey Davis, CBP Area Port Director for the Port of Atlanta. “This seizure at ATL illustrate the tremendous expertise of our four-legged K-9 partners in protecting the United States."

The U.S. prevents any pork and pork products from other continents in order to prevent the introduction of diseases like foot and mouth disease and classical swine fever.

Hardy, the dog of the day and a rescue beagle, joined the U.S. Customs and Border Protection after he trained at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Detectors Dog Training Center in Newnan, Georgia.