Lucky And Flo Hightail It To The Philippines
Lucky and Flo, the MPAA's quadruped crimefighting duo that's a DVD pirates' worst, furry-faced nightmare, have left Malaysia for the shores of the Philippines, putting some much-needed distance between them and any Malaysian mercenaries out to claim the reported $14,286 bounty on their heads. Currently in Manila, the dogs have quickly put their polycarbonate-sniffing skills to good use:
Nervous stall owners scurried away or locked themselves behind steel shutters when the two Labradors, trained in Ireland to detect optical discs, led government agents and representatives of the Motion Picture Association-International through the Makati Cinema Square mall.
In the first hour alone, Edu Manzano, chairman of the Philippine government's Optical Media Board, said they seized at least 300,000 pirated discs and arrested 11 people, who face charges of copyright infringement and violation of anti-pornography laws.
"They are the Starsky and Hutch of the Motion Picture Association," said the dogs' trainer, David Mayberry, a Northern Ireland senior investigator of the Federation Against Copyright Theft.
It certainly didn't take long for the canine agents to develop international reputations as highly efficient and merciless anti-piracy machines, with the faint, distant sounds of light panting and a flash of pink tongue striking fear in the hearts of even the most hardened Philippino film pirates. But it would probably surprise many to learn that both of the dogs are bitches, making the comparison to Starsky & Hutch less apt than, say, one to Cagney & Lacey, with Lucky in the single, career-minded Sharon "Cagney" Gless role, and Flo being the Labrador equivalent of Tyne "Lacey" Daly's married, working mom.
