Two sniffer Labrador dogs loaned by the MPAA to the Malaysian authorities have turned very successful, blocking the shipment of nearly 1 million discs, worth ~$2.8 million on March 19th, compared with 5 million discs seized throughout 2006. However, just when it looked to be the right time for the MPAA to hail about the success of its dogs, things have gone bad after the officials received a tip about the pirates now spraying chemicals on its discs to obscure the polycarbonate's own smell the dogs are trained to sniff out, according to DenverPost.
Worse still for the authorities, they had to take away the dogs to a safe house after they were informed that the bootleggers were offering a bounty to anyone who could kill the dogs. As a result, the dogs have not been used to sniff out any further packages since last week. The dogs are currently on loan from the MPAA for at least a month. Finally, despite the substantial number of discs seized already by the dogs, it seemed to have little if any effect on retail outlets selling pirated discs over the weekend.
Despite these issues, the Malaysian officials have mentioned that they will consider training its own dogs to carry out similar tasks, although it is unclear if it will be for blocking the shipping of pirated discs or other items. According to the MPAA, the raids carried out by its dogs Lucky and Flo was the first time dogs were ever used to sniff out pirated discs.
Thanks to RTV71 for letting us know about the Pirates' bounty offer to kill the dogs.
