Cloned dogs being groomed as customs sniffers

South Korean customs officials have announced that the seven dogs they have cloned (six are pictured here,fighting over a rag) are now being trained as sniffers for their customs agency.

The dogs were born after the country's customs service paid a biotechnology company to reproduce a Canadian Labrador retriever, and are already showing an uncanny sniffing ability, according to the AP:

Only about 30% of naturally born sniffer dogs make the grade, but South Korean scientists believe that could rise to 90% using the cloning method....

A spokesman for South Korean customs said the pups have passed the first round of tests for behavioural patterns and genetic qualities and will report for duty in June after completing a second round of training.

The puppies, all named Toppy (Tomorrow's Puppy) are identical to their father as seen here in the video below.

--Tony Barboza   

Photo: EPA

Comments

[Daisey Miranda]

Well personally I am not with or agains cloning myself. I believe that it can be bnoth beneficial and harmful. In this case with these puppies I see the part were we humans benefit but have we forgotten that it altough animals may not speak to us they have fellings. Once again wer are using animals as a tool to better ourl life instead of apreciating them for what they really are. Must we rally continue to be self centreed like we always have

[toby]

We're moving to cloning now? Yeah since our breeding technics with dogs have worked out SO well.

[ryan]

Lol you say the dogs have feelings that may oppose cloning?

[Naomi]

This comment is a reminder of the overfill of our animal shelters with animals in need. These animals have been cast off for various reasons, one of the top being cost. Now thousands to millions of dollars are being spent to create more animals. The government can do our country a great service, save us so much money and save these animals by taking them from the shelters for various humane jobs such as sniffing for drugs among other jobs. I challenge the government to do just that. This would save untold amounts of money for the shelters who can barely make ends meet for the countless number of homeless animals and strays still on the streets. This would also make them hero-worthy in the eyes of so many of our citizens and other countries. A country shows their strength when they show compassion for their living creatures, human and furry.

[Jen]

I think before you can comment on this article, you should learn how to spell, or at least learn decent sentence structure.

All for it, as long as it doesn't hurt the animal.

[freddy]

Cloning is the future to imortality.
Perhaps, only the rich will be able to afford it.
Cloning is inevitable. It is happening now.
Let's get use to it. The uses are multiple. The benifits are still questionable.

[percy poodle]

Yes Ryan, its very possible that dogs have feelings against cloning.

[HempGuy]

I heard the smugglers in Mexico/Colombia are cloning dogs to transport drugs into the USA. They just surgically insert the drugs, import the dogs, then get the drugs back. They did not need to use cloned dogs but they did because they because they wanted to keep up with the current LEO efforts. They also used submarines to transport the dogs to the USA.
And now they are starting to clone elephants, so the USA will soon be awash with drugs...
-HempGuy

[Mike]

Naomi, did you read the article? South Korea does not equal the United States. They are different countries, so referring to dogs in pounds here makes no sense.