DVD-sniffing dog dies in mysterious circumstances

Manny, a one-year-old Labrador trained to sniff out pirated DVDs in Malaysia, has died of unknown causes, according to officials. The death of Manny deals a setback to Malaysia's plan to use dogs to sniff out counterfeit DVDs.

Manny was one of two dogs trained in Ireland to sniff out a chemical used in manufacturing DVDs. They arrived in Malaysia in February. While the dogs cannot distinguish between real and pirated DVDs, but they point officers to hidden caches of discs.

Authorities were investigating the cause of death but did not suspect foul play, said Mohamad Roslan Mahayuddin, an official in the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

Malaysia had sought to form the world's first permanent canine anti-piracy unit. Last year, after borrowing two dogs — Lucky and Flo — from the US Motion Picture Association, the government discovered 1.6 million pirated DVDs in six months. Lucky and Flo's success reportedly caused movie pirates to place a bounty on their heads. (Source: The Baltimore Sun)

Story filed 21 June 2008

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