Say hey, Willie. Back to earth, Michael.
Meet Elf, the latest star pictured on his own trading card.
The Motor City mutt is one of 24 All-Star Drug Detecting Dogs working for the U.S. Customs Service, and you can find their cards tucked in boxes of Milk-Bone dog treats.
Elf`s stats are impressive: 110 kilos of cocaine in one memorable seizure, not to mention $9 million in suspicious cash sniffed out in Detroit. ”The young kids love trading cards, and at the same time they are getting the message these dogs on the cards are looking for drugs, and drugs are bad,” said Michael Sheehan, the U.S. Customs spokesman in Miami, where 6 of the 24 dogs are based.
The cards also carry the toll-free number for Customs` anti-drug tip line.
The All-Star series was inspired by an 81-card set the Customs Service put out. Agents have been handing those cards out since 1991 at just about anywhere kids congregate.
When Customs began casting about for a sponsor to underwrite the cards, Nabisco Foods Group suggested an All-Star series of canny canines from the ranks of the 500 pooches working for Customs. Nabisco this spring began distributing 20 million of the cards in Milk-Bone boxes, and gave the U.S. Customs Service another 2.4 million to hand out.
”It`s a public service and a consumer incentive, and that is a good package,” said Ann Smith of Nabisco Foods Group.
Sheehan said the cards were a major-league success.
As evidence, he cited the Sept. 1 game between the Oakland Athletics and Baltimore Orioles. It will be Customs Canine Trading Card Night, with 10,000 cards given to youngsters attending the game.
