March 4, 2008

Fantastic Four Lucky, Flo, Paddy, And Manny: The Original DVD-Sniffing Pirate Fighting Dogs, $30000 For Their Demise

If you thought piracy was a big concern in North America, you're right. But it pales in comparison to the concern of the Malaysian Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA). Last year the MDTCA made headlines when they began to use dogs to sniff out large caches of pirated DVD's. The dogs, Lucky and Flo, were loaned to Malaysian authorities by the Motion Picture Association of America, and trained to sniff out a chemical used in DVD production. While the dogs aren't actually capable of differentiating between real and pirated DVD's, they do have the ability to detect large caches of DVD's. Malaysian is one of the world's pirated DVD hotspots, so large caches often mean a big bust. In fact Lucky and Flo were able to help Malaysian authorities uncover 1.6 million pirated DVD's and equipment worth nearly $6 million!

Now, two more dogs have been added to the canine fleet. Paddy and Manny are the latest additions and will be permanent fixtures in Malaysia's ongoing war against DVD pirates, which the country hopes will eventually see themselves taken off the list of "pirate watch countries" in the United States.

We should also mention, just in case you want to make a little extra cash, that Malaysian pirates have placed a bounty of $30, 000 on the heads of the original dynamic duo, Lucky and Flo.

Via BBC