Dogs sniff out illegal DVDs
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AP) - March 3, 2008 Two male Labradors from Northern Ireland, named Paddy and Manny
and trained to smell chemicals used in DVD production, will become
the world's first permanent canine national anti-piracy unit when
they go into action next month, according to Malaysia's Ministry of
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.
The dogs can't distinguish between real and pirated DVDs. What
they do is point officers to hidden caches of discs.
Mohamad Roslan Mahayuddin, the ministry's enforcement director,
told reporters Monday he hopes the dogs will help get Malaysia off
a U.S. watch list of countries that abuse intellectual property
rights.
Malaysia decided to establish the DVD-sniffing squad after a
visit last year by a similar team from the U.S. Motion Picture
Association. The visiting dogs helped authorities unearth 1.6
million pirated DVDs and other optical discs and equipment worth $6
million over six months, Mohamad Roslan said.
"We found that the dogs are very useful in our operations,
especially in fighting piracy," he said.
U.S. studios that are members of the association lost $6.1
billion to worldwide piracy in 2005, including $1.2 billion worth
origination in Asia and the Pacific region.
Paddy and Manny were donated by the MPAA, which spent less than
$24,000 to buy and train them, according to Mike Ellis, the
association's Asia-Pacific director.
"We are not seeing Malaysian products appear all over the world
like we used to so it's more now of a domestic problem. And the
dogs will certainly help the domestic problem," Ellis said. "It
raises the awareness of piracy ."
The pair arrived Feb. 18 and are still adjusting to their new
handlers and the tropical weather, Mohamad Roslan said, adding that
the dogs would likely start their work in April.
Paddy, a 2-year-old black Labrador, is from an animal shelter
that rescued him from abuse. Manny, a pale-yellow 1-year-old, comes
from a breeder in northern Ireland.
Movie pirates reportedly placed a bounty of $29,000 on the
previous team of DVD-sniffing dogs, Lucky and Flo. Mohamad Roslan
said authorities were taking steps to ensure the new dogs are safe
from vengeful smugglers, though he declined to give details.
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