S. Korean Firm Delivers Five Cloned Pitbulls
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SEOUL, South Korea — Booger is back.
An American woman received five puppies yesterday that were cloned from her beloved late pitbull, becoming the inaugural customer of a South Korean company that says it is the world’s first successful commercial canine cloning service.
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!” Ms. McKinney repeatedly shouted yesterday when she saw the cloned Boogers for which she paid $50,000.
“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 disclosed as fake in 2005.
Independent tests confirmed the 2005 dog cloning was genuine, and Mr. 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.
“RNL Bio is commencing its worldwide services with Booger as its first successful clone,” the company said in a statement.
