Black Labs vs. pirates
Two dogs make quick work of DVD-copying bootleggers.
Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper tell us whether movies are good or bad. Lucky and Flo can tell us whether they're legal. These two black Labrador retrievers recently caught three alleged DVD bootleggers from New York City using their specialized sniffers to find the polycarbonate and other chemicals in the pirated discs.
This latest nasal nab for the dogs comes after a six-month assignment in Malaysia tracking down DVD and CD pirates and their wares. "Operation Double Trouble" helped police arrest 26 people, with the two pooches sniffing out $6 million worth of pirated movies, music, and copying equipment. Media pirates got so worried they put out a $29,000 hit on the crimefighting duo, but police kept the dogs safe and secure.
In the United States, the dogs are under the care of the Motion Picture Association of America, which is campaigning against DVD piracy. Now that they're in the States, maybe their handlers can do us all a favor and ask Lucky and Flo whether lousy movies smell worse to the discriminating nose.
