Litter of puppies cloned from a pitbull

An American woman received five puppies Tuesday that were cloned from her beloved late pit bull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world's first successful commercial canine cloning service. The Associated Press reports:

Seoul-based RNL Bio said the clones of Bernann McKinney's dog Booger were born last week after being cloned in cooperation with a team of Seoul National University scientists who created the world's first cloned dog in 2005.

"It's a miracle!" McKinney repeatedly shouted Tuesday when she saw the cloned Boogers at a Seoul National University laboratory.

"Yes, I know you! You know me too!" McKinney said joyfully, hugging the puppies, which were sleeping with one of their two surrogate mothers, both Korean mixed-breed dogs.

The team of scientists working for RNL Bio is headed by Lee Byeong-chun, a former colleague of disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who scandalized the international scientific community when his purported breakthroughs in cloned stem cells were revealed as fake in 2005.

Independent tests confirmed the 2005 dog cloning was genuine, and Lee's team has since cloned more than 20 canines.

But RNL Bio said that its cloning was the first successful commercial cloning of a canine.

Photo: Associated Press

Comments

[S Shultz]

This is stupid, outrageous, and incredible selfish. Just from animal cruelty all over the world, and dogs who need love and a home, this stands as one of the cruelest dumbheaded ideas of the century! "You know me." Oh please!!

[Brien Comerford]

I am against these greedy South Korean cloners. If this outrage continues and becomes trendy, more and more dogs and cats will be euthanized in American animal shelters.

[eb]

You people are incredibly dishonest and uneducated! I have known the woman in the picture for 12 years. She already has FIVE rescue dogs and a heart as big as all outdoors. How many rescues dogs do you CRITICS of her have in YOUR house? Unlike YOU, Koreans were kind and compassionate to her. This woman had her arms AMPUTATED and re-constructed. Do you know what it is like to be handicapped and to have to have a dog to take off your shoes and socks, do your laundry, and in short, to be your HANDS? The clones will have his genes & be trained as service dogs just like him. If you HYPOCRITES aren't honest enough to learn the TRUTH about a story before you slander someone, then take a hike. Better still, take a Compassion Pill.