James Delahunty
13 Mar 2007 18:48
Malaysia has used two sniffer dogs, Lucky and Flo, to assist in the battle against piracy. This makes it the first country to deploy animals to hunt for discs of illegal recordings in cargo (although it is not the first test). The two Black Labradors sniff through cargo and then sit in front of suspicious packages to signal their handler.
"It's cost-effective, and in terms of time, it's very effective too," said Domestic Trade Minister Shafie Apdal. The dogs went through a pile of boxes in 10 minutes that would have otherwise taken security officials a day to check. Malaysia is currently negotiating a free trade pact with the United States, and is featured on the U.S. watchlist on piracy.
The country has dramatically stepped up efforts against piracy in recent years as a result. The dogs will be used in Malaysia for the next month at cargo hangars and storage centers to determine which environment they function best in. "The arrival and deployment of Lucky and Flo will make Malaysia the first country in the world to test the capability of dogs in detecting optical disks in hidden compartments or shipments," Shafie said at Malaysia's biggest air-cargo center in Sepang outside Kuala Lumpur.
The dogs can sniff out CDs and DVDs, either burned or replicated discs, but cannot distinguish between legitimate and pirate discs. "However, the dogs will be valuable in locating disks being shipped in unlikely or unregistered containers," the Motion Picture Association (MPA) said.
Source:
Reuters