We found the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report magically detailing the activities of these politically connected dogs. GAO appears to literally act as a government watchdog agency. This report somehow escaped our attention until it was scooped up by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's friends at USA Facts, a data evangelism and dissemination organization founded by him.
The vast majority of Uncle Sam's Shepherds (and other breeds) (approximately 3,000) work for the Department of Homeland Security. About 1,100 of the DHS dogs sniff bags and more for everyone's airport security friend, the Transportation Security Administration, also known as the TSA. The rest of his 1,800 dogs are Department of Defense dogs, working hard for the Department of Defense. These two departments together account for 85 percent of the federal government's total working variety.
Across all government agencies and other government-adjacent agencies included in the database, the most common uses for dogs appear to be explosive and drug detection, including Amtrak (57 police dogs) and the Post Office (47). , are tasks performed by dogs in various locations. and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (eight). SPR in particular appears to have an incentive to ask its dogs to detect anything that could explode, other than 360 million barrels of oil.
Dogs also patrol and search hard-to-reach areas, such as federal wildlife refuges. Track people for Forest Service lands and Veterans Police. Arrest suspects from law enforcement agencies such as the FBI and Federal Marshals Service. In some agencies, dogs also work to identify currency, firearms, pests, and exotic species.
As you might imagine, these puppies are highly productive because they have demanding and sometimes dangerous jobs. They often undergo several months of training. This is more training than is required for many human occupations. GAO found that “procuring and training a dog costs about $65,000 to $85,000.” If this were his annual salary, my DC canine colleague would be somewhere between his GS-7 and her GS-11, depending on their level of experience.
Additionally, GAO says these dogs should be provided with “food and water,” housing in a “trainer's home or kennel,” and “working dog exercise appropriate for their weight and breed.” Says. Generally, you don't get it until you get to about GS-14.
How many other animals work for the Federation? I'm curious!
The U.S. Army sold its last homing pigeon in 1957. If “guinea pigs” count as a job, then the National Institutes of Health raises thousands of mice, rats, fish, hamsters, pigs, dogs, rabbits, monkeys, and yes, guinea pigs. According to an analysis of USDA and NIH data by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. NASA has employed monkeys and chimpanzees as astronauts, or at least prominent research subjects. However, the space agency reportedly euthanized the last 27 possible non-human primates one day in 2019.
The Navy's Marine Mammal Program has examined more than a dozen marine mammals, including orcas, pilot whales and seals, at various times for missions such as mine detection and swimmer protection. Birds, sea turtles and sharks are also forcibly hunted.
As of early 2023, the Navy is reportedly still training 77 dolphins and 47 sea lions. According to the New York Times, they are no longer keeping dolphins in captivity and plan to phase them out using underwater drones. Meanwhile, some of these animals once served in America's foreign wars, and are breaking new ground in research into kidney stones, cataracts, weight problems, and other indignities faced by aging veterans everywhere. It is helping to develop.
Maybe Americans just don't like school buses?
Several of you contacted us about our column about the sharp decline in school bus usage due to the coronavirus pandemic and said we missed the obvious. People don't ride school buses because they are – and I'm paraphrasing here – bullies – mysterious, stinky, extremely inconvenient, and carriers of rolling disease.
Let's be honest: For as long as we can remember, school buses may have been unpleasant even before the pandemic, so we ignored that idea. Therefore, it may not explain the decline.
There was also no data on the popularity of school buses. That is, until our friend Karl Bialik came along. online voting company YouGov read the column and reacted the only way he knew how: by polling. Earlier this month, Bialik asked 1,117 U.S. adults what they thought about transportation to school.
The bus was lost. Only 34 percent of people who took the bus said they liked or liked the experience, a pitiful figure compared to the staggering 91 percent who said the same about their own driving. It seems like. In fact, even if there's no engine involved, having your own set of wheels is very popular, and riding a bike (or skateboard, or scooter) received 71% support.
The fastest growing mode of transportation is being picked up by a relative, at 65%, about the same rate as carpooling. I wish I only had to look at the people who said they liked me.
Walking was not very popular. Data suggests it may be particularly unpopular in the Midwest. Also, public transport wasn't really liked by anyone either. But these two modes of his circled around a short yellow bus. It was the only form of transportation that evoked more negative emotions than positive ones.
Of course, there are times when something is very important and important, even if it is not particularly loved. Contact the IRS, I-95, or dental floss. Going to school is the single most important prerequisite for academic success, and sometimes the yellow bus is the only option for children.
The biggest question we can't answer
Connecticut is home to thousands of robins in the spring and summer. During the day they only chirp quietly, but once the sun goes down, one or two robins will sit high up in a tree and chirp loudly until the sun sets.
Could this nocturnal song, repeated over and over again by a single robin, be some kind of religious service offered by all the robins in the area to the sun god?
— David O'Neill, South Windsor, CT
What is perhaps not surprising, David, is that we don't have data on this. We did our best and reached out to one of our all-time favorite sources, Elliott Miller (now with the American Bird Conservation Society).
If there's anyone on the planet who can decipher your robin, it's Miller. He's the guy who once helped us decide once and for all which birds were the biggest nuisances at the feeders.
Miller helped develop an app for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that recognizes bird songs, and is now installing recorders and analyzing audio data across the Americas to create new measures of bird diversity. It's flying around horizontally and vertically.Unfortunately, even Miller's artificial intelligence model currently He revealed that the robins worshiped the sun god, but he sounded tempted to try it out.
But there's good news. Miller doesn't need AI to guess what happened in Connecticut.
“Birds, especially migratory birds like robins, reproduce in annual cycles,” he told us. “Their gonads enlarge, they start producing testosterone, and when they get scared or irritated, they suddenly start making little chirps and chirps, and then they start singing in earnest until nightfall.
“This especially happens up until the time the babies are actually born. Why? Because now is the time when they're fighting over who gets to breed where and with which female. Then, once the babies are born, they're probably going to give up their attention to the nest.” They actually start squealing less so they don’t pull back so much.”
But Mr. Miller left the door open to robin worship. The explanation related to hybridization is “an idea that humans came up with,” he says. “They're probably right, but we'll have to ask the birds to find out.”
Hello! The data bureau is currently investigating. What you are wondering is which fish swims the fastest. Has the coverage really become negative? Where are the best places to work in professional sports? Please listen!
If your question inspires a column, we'll send you an official data department button and ID card. This week, I'm mailing them to USAFacts' Nate Jonnold, YouGov's Karl Bialik, and Thrush theologian David O'Neill, who discovered the government dog data.
