James Delahunty
11 May 2006 12:41
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) is celebrating after successfully training two sniffer dogs, Lucky and Flo, to locate DVDs. The two black Labradors were part of a project supported by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Eight months after their training commenced, the dogs can now successfully locate DVDs amongst other cargo items. The dogs passed a test at FedEx's UK hub at Stansted Airport where they were successful in identifying packages and parcels containing DVDs.
However, since legitimate pressed DVDs smell pretty much the same as counterfeit DVDs, the DVDs the dogs successfully located were in fact legitimate. In total the dogs identified three packages, which customs officers then opened. Despite the failure of the dogs to locate a single counterfeit DVD, FACT is claiming the initiative as a great success. Usually dogs are used only to find explosive substances or drugs.
"This is the first time dogs have been used anywhere in the world to search for counterfeit DVDs and the results were amazing," said FACT director general Raymond Leinster. "With the cooperation and assistance of FedEx and Customs we were able to properly test the dogs in a real life situation and prove that they can work in a busy airport environment." Mary Callahan of the MPAA also praised the dogs. "Lucky and Flo’s immediate success in locating DVDs in transit offers us a new and highly effective means of detection for counterfeit discs." she said.
Source:
The Register